Connection Troubleshooting

Please check out the suggestions below for ways of resolving connection problems to our Docking Station servers.

Q: When I try to log-in with Docking Station, it says the server is down or I'm not connected to the internet.
A: If you played Docking Station some time ago (before Gameware purchased the Creature Labs assets), but are now having trouble connecting, it is probably your game looking for the wrong server. Try the following:

• Make sure Docking Station is NOT running
• Browse to the Docking Station directory on your computer (usually C:\Program Files\DockingStation)
• Delete the file named "server.cfg" (or simply rename it if you prefer)
• Re-launch Docking Station by double-clicking "engine.exe"

Because Docking Station no longer uses the InstallBlast updater, you will now need to relink your shortcuts to use "engine.exe". You can do this by right-clicking the shortcut in your "Start" menu and selecting "Delete" from the drop-down menu. You can then right-click and drag "engine.exe" into its place.

Q: I tried all that and it didn't work!
A: Make sure you are connected to the Internet - seems obvious, but sometimes a connection to your ISP can be severed.

If you use AOL, try connecting from the Master screen name. The parental controls on other screen names may cause problems with AOL.

Try using a different ISP - This is not as drastic as it sounds. The Internet Connection Wizard should help you locate a different ISP in your area. Please note that you will still be able to use your current ISP even if you sign up for another. It is advisable to be registered with at least two ISP's because if one ISP is busy or goes off line and you need to use the Internet you can simply dial in to the other ISP. This is possibly the best suggestion as any suspected issue with a current ISP can quite quickly be confirmed or eliminated.

Please be aware that some ISP's are not free and you may be asked to submit credit card details before you can use the system. Check all the details before signing up.

If your Internet connection is going through a proxy server or firewall you need to make sure that it will allow access to the following IP address: 81.174.139.142 on Port number 49152.

If you are trying to access Docking Station from work, university or similar, you may need to ask the system administrator if s/he can make this amendment for you.

Get in touch with your ISP and ask them (nicely) if they are blocking access to the following IP address 81.174.139.142 on Port number 49152. Your ISP may have a Firewall or Proxy server which is stopping the connection, get in touch with them and ask them for their advice on the issue they may be able to help.

More Technical Help

For those of a technical nature there are some connection checks you can make to see if you can contact one of our servers.

Go to your Start Bar and click the Run menu item, you should see a dialogue box. Type in "Command" (without the speech marks) and click OK.

You should see an MSDOS screen, type in the following :

ping heart.creatures.net [RETURN]

This will send packets of data to our server and is used to see if the server responds. If the ping returns with 'dropped packets' or the request 'times out' then it is very likely that you have Internet connection problems (or our server is offline). Try 'pinging' another website local to your country or area (even your own ISP) to see what response you get. Please note that some websites may block 'ping' commands so try a number of websites.

Please include details of this data if you get in touch with Customer Support.

If the ping returns with data and is OK please try the following:

Open a browser window and type in the following address or click the link below:

http://heart.creatures.net:49152/

You should see a black page with yellow writing that says, "heart.creatures.net", it will also show your IP address. This is a check to make sure that you can access port number 49152. If you cannot see this page it is most likely due to an ISP, personal or corporate firewall which has blocked access to the specific port.

It could be that our server is down or your ISP is experiencing problems. If you ping (see above) the server and get request time outs try to connect later on.

Get the most up-to-date version of your Internet Browser, if this doesn't help, try using a different web browser.