Cannot get passed login screen
By
Borris_Black,
Posted on: 2011-09-02 09:00 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Servers are down at the moment...
Dragon-King First level 50 -- Fire/Nrg Blaster
(and to many alts to mention)
Protector
Quote:
| Originally by Arcanaville: Everything in Praetoria was designed during a drinking binge in which the devs temporarily forgot the rules. |
Are you sure? The server status has been borked (more than ever since yesterday) but I am reasonably sure they have been back up since early this morning.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
I was in WW when everything went Kablowie and I was back to the Login screen. Gave me the standard check your stuff message when i tried to log back in.
Dragon-King First level 50 -- Fire/Nrg Blaster
(and to many alts to mention)
Protector
Quote:
| Originally by Arcanaville: Everything in Praetoria was designed during a drinking binge in which the devs temporarily forgot the rules. |
Ah ok, cheers. not just me then. Oh well 
| dave | onion | @davejb |
Okay, bear with me a moment here; the tl;dr is I am reasonably sure that a login server was changed a couple of nights ago.
I knew the servers were up, I knew I had friends logged in. I knew that there were a small number of people having issues but most could get in. So I thought I'd double check some things and make sure it wasn't an ISP issue or something like that. As it was on two machines, I was certain that it wasn't a client issue on my end. I was reasonably sure that as I could access the Beta server it wasn't going to turn out to be an ISP issue.
On both machines, using the NCSoft Laucher, the CoH client was FULLY up to date and I was able to verify/repair the install on each machine no problem.
So I did some traces and watched the client as it tried to login. There was no response from the login server. So I grabbed the details, that I could, of the login server and found that I wasn't able to ping it at all. I jumped into my ISP's IRC chat and asked them to check. They had no joy at all but were reasonably confidently able to confirm that there were no issues on their end and they suspected a server issues.
As Support here had not answered yet, I figured I'd do a reinstall because what could it hurt? I didn't want to do a full download again but I wanted to make sure that the networking/connection files were reinstalled. So I copied the coh.exe and only that file to a new dir. I pointed the Launcher at it and asked it to repair. It started the whole patch process. I *cancelled* this process once it had built the directory structure and copied across the pigg directory meaning that the reinstall had to download less then 700 mb.
This went fine and I was really quite surprised that the new install logged in straight away. So I watched the login process again and this install was pointing/connection to a DIFFERENT login server.
So I have two installs on one machine - launcher says both are fully up to date and good to go... however each install is pointing at a different login server and only one works. I have the other machine next to me with the install that worked fine until Thursday and that won't connect at all. That's pointing at the non working sever.
Support have, conveniently, ignored any of the actual information I've given them and have done nothing but insist I run the Game Advisor. I have just done that - there's no info in there that I can see relating to the install/login server that the local CoH uses but we'll see what they come back with. When my ISP cannot ping the login server my client is pointed to, I can totally understand why my firewall or AV details are important 
My tentative conclusion at the moment is that I, and perhaps others, do not have a fully up to date CoH client despite what the NCSoft Launcher says. I suspect strongly there was a server change during the hardware upgrade the other night and for whatever reason my installs did not receive the prep work for this in the earlier patches. I shall update if Support erm.. support.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
To confirm, two installs right now on the same machine. Both up to date (I manually point the launcher at each exe and then repair/verify).
One connects straight away, one will not get past the Eula screen.
Watching my connections, each install tries to connect somewhere differently.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
Quote:
I keep saying in all my posts the problems I have all started with the launcher update on monday and I know im sounding like a broken record but your work to trace what the launcher was doing actually proves my point.|
Originally Posted by Global_DJB
Okay, bear with me a moment here; the tl;dr is I am reasonably sure that a login server was changed a couple of nights ago.
I knew the servers were up, I knew I had friends logged in. I knew that there were a small number of people having issues but most could get in. So I thought I'd double check some things and make sure it wasn't an ISP issue or something like that. As it was on two machines, I was certain that it wasn't a client issue on my end. I was reasonably sure that as I could access the Beta server it wasn't going to turn out to be an ISP issue. On both machines, using the NCSoft Laucher, the CoH client was FULLY up to date and I was able to verify/repair the install on each machine no problem. So I did some traces and watched the client as it tried to login. There was no response from the login server. So I grabbed the details, that I could, of the login server and found that I wasn't able to ping it at all. I jumped into my ISP's IRC chat and asked them to check. They had no joy at all but were reasonably confidently able to confirm that there were no issues on their end and they suspected a server issues. As Support here had not answered yet, I figured I'd do a reinstall because what could it hurt? I didn't want to do a full download again but I wanted to make sure that the networking/connection files were reinstalled. So I copied the coh.exe and only that file to a new dir. I pointed the Launcher at it and asked it to repair. It started the whole patch process. I *cancelled* this process once it had built the directory structure and copied across the pigg directory meaning that the reinstall had to download less then 700 mb. This went fine and I was really quite surprised that the new install logged in straight away. So I watched the login process again and this install was pointing/connection to a DIFFERENT login server. So I have two installs on one machine - launcher says both are fully up to date and good to go... however each install is pointing at a different login server and only one works. I have the other machine next to me with the install that worked fine until Thursday and that won't connect at all. That's pointing at the non working sever. Support have, conveniently, ignored any of the actual information I've given them and have done nothing but insist I run the Game Advisor. I have just done that - there's no info in there that I can see relating to the install/login server that the local CoH uses but we'll see what they come back with. When my ISP cannot ping the login server my client is pointed to, I can totally understand why my firewall or AV details are important My tentative conclusion at the moment is that I, and perhaps others, do not have a fully up to date CoH client despite what the NCSoft Launcher says. I suspect strongly there was a server change during the hardware upgrade the other night and for whatever reason my installs did not receive the prep work for this in the earlier patches. I shall update if Support erm.. support. |
Playing the game it feels like it is NOT in sync with the server and its causing crashing, rubberbanding and the huge red spikes on the netgraph.
I would like to thank you for the trouble you went through to find this problem, sadly though its easier for tech support and the dev's to blame the players computers and to insist everything is beautiful on there end.
Thank you so much
Scataloni Volt
Scataloni
Scataloni Tank
Scataloni Arrow
Rad Scataloni
I know that no-one from support/NCSoft is actually going to read this and care one jot but the utter lack of respect being shown in emails back from Support on this is astounding. I just got a canned text response about opening ports on my computer.
I provide them with details directly from my ISP about not being able to connect to their server and they come back about ports on my local machine/router.
Not to mention that fact that a new install WORKS AND POINTS SOMEWHERE ELSE.
Utter utter lack of respect. It is abundantly clear to me that no-one has actually read my ticket - or these forums - and I am getting simple canned text.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
Okay, here's another update. I'm still not really getting anywhere with support. I sent off a um frustrated email over the weekend and got 'escalated'. The response to that was better but...
Anyway while I was checking some information to add to that, I decided to run a file compare of my installs. Leaving aside the changes I'd expect (logs/timestamps etc), quite simply addcache.xml is different between clients. Anyone want to guess what the differences are... that's right - the exact same IP address that I originally opened my ticket with.
The NCSoft Luncher does not recognise this. Each install passes a verify and repair.
So, and thank you Support for suggesting that I check my local ports, I'm moved from 'reasonably sure' to 99.99%certain there was a login server change and that for some reason my client installs/NCSoft Launcher did not get correctly updated. I'm really curious as to whether anyone else who had this and reinstalled kept their old install and could do some double checking.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
We're looking into these issues this morning all.
Thanks for the reports.
-Z
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
Gonna throw my 2 cents in here for a moment.
While I've been using the NCSoft Launcher to keep my game client up to date, I always launch the client using the old "bypass the updater" shortcut.
And even after the old launcher was canned, this method still worked.
(There is an actual reason as to why I launch that way - it has to do with some keyboard shortcuts that I have that do not work when I used the old updater)
Either way, as of last week that method was no longer working. The game would launch and I would get to the login screen - enter my info to login and then the game would hang until an error message popped up about not being able to connect to server, check firewalls, etc.
However, using the NCSoft Launcher to launch the game allowed me to login no problem.
Incidentally, my keyboard shortcuts do work through the NCSoft Launcher even though they wouldn't with the old COH updater.
Still, figured it was worth mentioning.
Also, FPARN! (My first one me thinks) ^.^
[ @Zombie Fryer ][ @Zombie Smasher ]
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Twitter: @ZFLikesNachos Save City of Heroes (Titan Network) [Successful "The Really Hard Way" runs: 4] [Click ^]
| Home Server: Virtue |
Twitter: @ZFLikesNachos Save City of Heroes (Titan Network) [Successful "The Really Hard Way" runs: 4] [Click ^]
Excellent news, thanks Z.
Anyone looking for more info or having similar isuses make sure to read the other thread too, we got some more details there in particular from post 15 onwards.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=3857005
| dave | onion | @davejb |
Quote:
I can take a guess as to why the keyboard shortcuts didn't work with the old updater but do with the new one (I had the same issue, but it was my mouse's extra buttons and the macros I had set up bound to those extra keys)|
Originally Posted by SolarSentai
Gonna throw my 2 cents in here for a moment.
While I've been using the NCSoft Launcher to keep my game client up to date, I always launch the client using the old "bypass the updater" shortcut. And even after the old launcher was canned, this method still worked. (There is an actual reason as to why I launch that way - it has to do with some keyboard shortcuts that I have that do not work when I used the old updater) Either way, as of last week that method was no longer working. The game would launch and I would get to the login screen - enter my info to login and then the game would hang until an error message popped up about not being able to connect to server, check firewalls, etc. However, using the NCSoft Launcher to launch the game allowed me to login no problem. Incidentally, my keyboard shortcuts do work through the NCSoft Launcher even though they wouldn't with the old COH updater. Still, figured it was worth mentioning. Also, FPARN! (My first one me thinks) ^.^ |
I can't answer anything regarding the actual connection issues portion of the thread - but the shortcut issue...
I'm guessing you're on Win7 here, the UAC thingy with the old updater would require admin rights when the CoHUpdater didn't actually /need/ admin rights. What would happen is that due to the updater having the actual word "updater" in the filename would trigger UAC (some filter Microsoft put in to automatically assume some file with updater in the name would require admin rights to do the "updating" it needed to do) - so to run the updater you'd have to say "sure" to the UAC prompt (unless you have UAC off - in which case it would elevate to admin rights all by itself so far as I know). Something with how it elevated the updater and probably passed that along to the actual CityofHeroes.exe would give it rights it didn't need and kill off a lot of more complex keyboard and mouse button/key assignments that are done through software instead of directly in the driver - so suddenly anytime CoH has computer focus, anything on a keyboard or mouse using software instead of driver to do certain functions would lose access to those extra functions.
I was beyond thrilled when the new launcher/updater meant I didn't have to play the game using the bypass-updater shortcuts I had set up anymore. Then of course, I posted about my experience with the extra keys/buttons now working through the launcher and someone more techy than me came in and explained the rights elevation thing. I likely screwed up the explanation, but in general, the old updater didn't need admin rights but got them thus cutting it off from other stuff that didn't need admin rights - the new one doesn't do this.
Global @Nomme & @Nomme Again
Protector server
Quote:
I use the "direct game launch" method as well, and it also stopped working for me recently. Based on the IP address information posted in this thread (thanks!) I found a registry entry that needs to be updated:|
Originally Posted by SolarSentai
Gonna throw my 2 cents in here for a moment.
While I've been using the NCSoft Launcher to keep my game client up to date, I always launch the client using the old "bypass the updater" shortcut. And even after the old launcher was canned, this method still worked. (There is an actual reason as to why I launch that way - it has to do with some keyboard shortcuts that I have that do not work when I used the old updater) Either way, as of last week that method was no longer working. The game would launch and I would get to the login screen - enter my info to login and then the game would hang until an error message popped up about not being able to connect to server, check firewalls, etc. However, using the NCSoft Launcher to launch the game allowed me to login no problem. Incidentally, my keyboard shortcuts do work through the NCSoft Launcher even though they wouldn't with the old COH updater. Still, figured it was worth mentioning. Also, FPARN! (My first one me thinks) ^.^ |
HKCU\Cryptic\Coh
The entry to update is labeled "Auth" -- changing it to the new IP address, 64.25.36.88, allows launching the game directly (bypassing the launcher) again.
Interesting, thanks Yuro. I just checked my Cryptic CoH reg files and the euCOH has Auth with the old IP 64.25.36.4 but does recognise the install directory as being the new one which now works just fine.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
Support just asked me to delete the following file from the CoH directory.
""
No, that's not a typo - at least not on my part. They left out the file name. Other than that they suggest a reinstall which makes it plainly obvious that they haven't read the details I provided in the ticket or that myself and others have provided in this thread. I cannot wait to see what the VIP Support is like, it cannot be worse than this has been!
So I give up. Something is broken in the Launcher or some CoH installs - somewhere. At least 3 people in this thread alone have had their client pointed to wrong servers. My registry entry is still pointing at the wrong servers, I bet that'll cause a problem down the line too.
I only hope that Z's engineers looking at this thread got a bit further!
| dave | onion | @davejb |
I noticed this myself when I stopped over at my folks to finally try out the Beta which I was downloading there over the holiday but didn't get a chance to play. When I had issues with the Beta I fired up the current game and couldn't log in because of this. I ended up jury-rigging a launcher bypass using the new auth server IP.
Something silly happened with either a launcher patch or a game patch since the last time I ran the game at my folks (about 2 weeks) that this wasn't updated.
As an aside the game had been giving me a parsing error on the command line but it was never really a problem.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Looks like I'm having the same problem as you were. Except when I try and launch I get an error saying.
Error parsing command line argument 'auth 64.25.36.88-project COH'
Any idea how to fix this??
Not sure if this will help but...
Assuming you are starting the game up via the regular shortcut or launcher.
In the game's folder, not the launcher, there is a file called addcache (it's identified as a XML Document by Windows). Delete it. It should be recreated with the correct command line parameters.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Quote:
Yep this should do it, you can also edit the addcache.xml file to the correct IP addresses (listed or linked above), this will save the entire repair/verify process.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
In the game's folder, not the launcher, there is a file called addcache (it's identified as a XML Document by Windows). Delete it. It should be recreated with the correct command line parameters.
|
A totally fresh install should solve it too but will be a large download again.
Note that at least in my case a reinstall and the above changes still leaves traces of the incorrect IP address (notably in the registery). So I am half expecting further problems down the line.
| dave | onion | @davejb |
The registry entry is an artifact from an earlier time. Monday I did a fresh install of both the launcher and the game, deleting the registry entry for the game in it's entirety to see what wasn't referenced anymore. One of the keys no longer created was Auth. Also now missing were the key for lightmaps (pre CoV I think) as well as the web page URL that the old updater referenced and the game's current version number, which is now stored in the game folder as version.ini.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
darn it
sorry just posted whats seems to be the same thing carnt get passed the login page since 15th at 10.00 uk time tried like 20 time's checked firewall and thats fine, seems its a problem with maybe the download content, i really carnt be borthered to fresh install. qui was helping me from FB, he got in np's yet i still get problems
"C:\Program Files\NCSoft\Launcher\NCLauncher.exe" /LaunchGame=CityOfHeroesEU
2100.201109140228.1.0
Quote:
Thank you very muchly |
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Not sure if this will help but...
Assuming you are starting the game up via the regular shortcut or launcher. In the game's folder, not the launcher, there is a file called addcache (it's identified as a XML Document by Windows). Delete it. It should be recreated with the correct command line parameters. |
"if you ever get offered a burger from a clown and its not ronald mcdonald don�t eat it, I learnt that the hard way"
So I cannot get passed the login screen. I get the standard game client unable to connect to the login server etc. I'm getting the same error on both machines - no changes overnight to either machine. I have restarted router and all that jazz. I CAN connect to the beta server just fine.
I've contacted support but if anyone had a suggestion...?
Ta!