TOP 13 TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS AND ANSWERS
These are the technical difficulties most frequently reported by Cybertown users.
Please review this page before submitting a problem report.1) I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE WHEN I TRY TO ENTER 3D OR I CRASH OR FREEZE OR NOT EVERYTHING LOADS.
Typical Error Messages:
a) This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down
b) IEXPLORE caused an invalid page fault in module "x"
c) Windows: An exception has occured at "x"
d) VRML syntax error: line "x"
e) access violation
f) any other error message or freeze or crash
g) see # 3) below for an error message that needs a different solutionSOLUTIONS:
(i) This is usually caused by damaged or corrupted files in the cache. Clear the cache of both your browser and blaxxun Contact and try again.* This helps in almost all known cases. This will also happen if you interrupt the 3D download by trying to do something else while the 3D world is loading or if it somehow gets accidentally interrupted. This is a Netscape and Microsoft browser problem at this time.
(ii) In a few other cases this happens because another user has uploaded a damaged object or avatar into Cybertown. As we find these we remove them.
(iii) Your 3D capabilities may not be adequate. Go to our trouble-shooting site and run the 3D-Test to check your 3D-capabilities.Note: When such a crash occurs, it might happen that an instance of blaxxun Contact remains active in the background after the browser was closed. In that case you may receive the message that it is still open in another window. This should disappear after a moment or after rebooting your machine.
* HOW TO CLEAR YOUR CACHE:
One way to do this in Contact is to right-click on the 3D screen and select Preferences/Cache Settings/Empty My Cache. Unfortunately this will empty your cache of all worlds which will make them take longer to load next time you enter them. Better if you only crashed in one specific place is to go to your Windows (or other) File Manager (Windows Explorer) and find the Program Files/Blaxxun Contact/cache directory (usually on your C: drive), look for the www.cybertown.com subdirectory, select places, then the place where you crashed, then delete all the files in this subdirectory.
To clear your Netscape cache, choose Edit/Preferences, double-click Advanced and select Cache and then Clear Memory Cache and Clear Disk Cache.
To clear your Microsoft Internet Explorer cache, chooseView/Internet_Options, choose General and select Delete Files under Temporary Internet Files.
2) I CANNOT ACCESS HOUSES THROUGH THE METHOD OF "http://www.cybertown.com/home/name" ANYMORE. I GET A "404 NOT FOUND" ERROR MESSAGE. WHEN I GO TO THE CITIZEN'S DIRECTORY AND CLICK ON A FRIEND'S NAME IT SAYS "PAGE NOT FOUND".
SOLUTION:
This is a problem with Internet Explorer 5.0. In IE5, click on 'Tools' in the menu bar, and select 'Internet Options'. Click on the 'Advanced' tab, and you should see a list of options.
Uncheck the "Show friendly HTTP error messages" box and the "Show friendly URL's" box and click OK or APPLY to save your options.3) WHEN I TRY TO START BLAXXUN CONTACT I GET A MESSAGE THAT SAYS "ERROR LOADING BLAXXUN CONTACT CHAT PLUG-IN" OR "ERROR STARTING BLAXXUN CONTACT 3D PLUG-IN".
SOLUTION:
Look into your Windows system directory (C:\Windows\System) and look for a file named bxxml40.dll. If this file is not in your Windows-System-directory please copy this file into this directory (you will need to unzip it first). It is sometimes not sufficient to only copy this file into the
windows-system-directory. In some cases it is also necessary to repeat the registration of blaxxun Contact afterwards. To do this, go to the directory you installed blaxxun Contact to and double-click the register.exe file. This will repeat the registration of blaxxun Contact.4) I CAN'T GET THE 2D CHAT WINDOW.
SOLUTIONS:
(i) Maybe you have set your security settings to a very high level or you have disabled Java. Please check this in your Netscape or IE settings and enable Java if you haven´t done it yet or set the security settings to medium.
(ii) It has to do with the recent security problem that Microsoft discovered in the newest IE5 update.
Download the patch for it and 2D will work.
(iii) You're using WebTV and WebTV doesn't support Java.
(iv) You're using Netscape with the MacOS. Netscape is known to have a poor Java implementation on this system. The newest versions are a bit better but still with lots of bugs. You can also try Microsoft IE for MAcOS. They haven't implemented their own Java-engine (Netscape uses its own) and therefore they use the Mac-java-engine instead. This one works pretty well.5) I KEEP GETTING A "NO SERVER CONNECTED" MESSAGE OR THE 2D CHATS DON'T LOAD. THEY NEVER GET FURTHER THAN THE "Monday, November 01, 1999 CONNECTING TO COMMUNITY SERVER..." MESSAGE.
SOLUTIONS:
Maybe you have some problems with firewall or proxy-settings. Please take a look at our troubleshooting-site and run the multiuser-test. You should also take a look at our firewall-FAQ and read carefully through all the hints.
6) I HAVE TROUBLE DOWNLOADING CONTACT.
SOLUTIONS:
(i) On the download page there is a link for the "manual download". Please try this again instead of the full automatic direct setup, as this sometimes has problems with Win98
(ii) If this doesn´t help you, you could download directly via ftp:
ftp://ftp.blaxxun.com/pub/blaxxunContact42.exe (DirectX-version Win95/98)
ftp://ftp.blaxxun.com/pub/blaxxunContact42OGL.exe (OpenGL version for WinNT)
Just save this file on your hard disk, start the program and follow the instructions7) I'M USING AOL AND GETTING VARIOUS PROBLEMS.
SOLUTIONS:
There are often lots of problems for AOL users when they try to leave their encapsulated AOL-world and try to gain unrestricted access to the Internet. Lots of these problems can be partially solved using an external browser instead of the AOL-built-in browser. Using the internal browser in AOL is not the best choice for running any applications on the Internet not to mention 3D graphics. Also AOL uses so much RAM and resources that there is hardly RAM left for our plug-in. You can check this using a shareware-tool called freemem (available from http://www.meikel.com/de/freemem or any shareware site). This tool lets you control the RAM in use. In addition you should clear the cache of both your browser and blaxxun Contact from time to time, as often damaged files in the caches lead to problems.
8) I AM EXPERIENCING VERY STRANGE VISUAL GRAPHICS, MISSING TEXTURES AND ALSO CRASHES. I USE AN ATI GRAPHICS CARD.
SOLUTION:
The current ATI RAGE graphics cards are not very stable for 3D even with the latest drivers. Until the drivers are improved there is no real solution other than than to use a more stable 3D card such as an STB nVidea. 16-32MB graphics RAM is also recommended. You should also use the current version of DirectX. You can check your DirectX settings. If you have installed directX properly there should be a file named dxdiag.exe somewhere in the Windows-System-directory. Double-click it to check your DirectX installation.
9) I SOMETIMES HAVE DIFFICULTIES LOADING THE FLEA MARKET OR THE MALLS.
The problem is that sometimes people bring in some objects that have faults or problems in their VRML description. If these problems are too extensive, the browser can currently crash. We try to eliminate such problem objects as soon as we notice them.
10) WHEN I DOWNLOADED CONTACT IT DIDN'T ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT VOICE CHAT. HOW CAN I GET IT?
SOLUTIONS:
(i) You can start the download of the chat talk program manually. Go to the options menu of blaxxun Contact and select "Voice", then you can start the download of the software you need.
(ii) When you are in 3D chat, look in the right side of the chat window for a tab called "Options". Select this tab, and select "Voice". You will see a pop-up menu, and one of the options will be "Enable Voice in this World."11) I WANT MORE THAN 32 OBJECTS IN MY HOUSE.
The reasons for the 32 object limit in a 3D home is due to the number of objects which have to be recalculated and redrawn for each avatar. The limit is not due to the file size of the objects, for once the object is downloaded, it's in your cache or on your hard drive. There's also the matter of bandwidth constraints. Bandwidth is how much stuff you can send through an internet connection. It takes more bandwidth to download a photograph in one second than it takes to download a page of text in one second. Large sound files, computer programs, and animated videos require still more bandwidth for acceptable system performance. Virtual reality and full-length three-dimensional audio/visual presentations require the most bandwidth of all. Cybertown is always looking for ways to improve the speed and quality of the 3D VR experience. Basically, if they could they would, but the bandwidth can't support any more shared items right now. For those who want to get the maximum effect in furnishing their home, the situation can be helped by buying packages of furniture. Rather than buy one bed as one object, you can buy a bedroom set consisting of, for example, a bed, a nightstand, and a lamp as one object. The builders of VR furniture (our talented fellow citizens) are always interested in what the consumer wants, so feel free to leave requests at the Mall's message board. Cybertown is constantly inventing new ways to improve the technology so watch for continual advancements.
12) I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO GO INTO 3D WITH MY MAC.
The Mac cannot currently do multi-user VR. The current blaxxun Contact (needed for 3D in Cybertown) requires the Microsoft COM architecture. Microsoft has announced that they plan to port it to the Mac. However, until there is a solid COM implementation on the Mac, the Macintosh version is not likely to be developed. However, blaxxun Contact should run in the Windows 95 emulation on the latest Macs (e.g. G3) - albeit slowly.
13) I HAVE 32MB RAM - IS THAT ENOUGH?
With only 32MB of RAM it is hard enough to run only Win98 and nothing else. For 3D applications you need a lot more.
Note: There are also a lot more answers at the blaxxun support page.
If you did not find an answer to your question here, please send us a problem report.