READ HERE FIRST for Tech Support Issues!

I sent in a ticket & haven't gotten a reply, what's going on?

Please check your email SPAM, JUNK or BULK email folders to see if your email client/service filtered our replies.

There are some of you sending us multiple emails/tickets over and over, and we have replied over and over.

Also, please know that some ISPs (like AOL, Comcast) have been known to filter or block our emails.

So if you haven't gotten a reply from Tech Support (or Customer Support) after 3 days or so, consider sending us a ticket with a different email address.

When you send Tech Support (or any department at PWE) a ticket, please do not spam our system by sending it multiple times. We try to get tickets answered the same day we receive them, depending on demand and other duties that we are busy with.

More super involved tickets may take more time to research on tech issues, because that is the nature of the beast. Longest tickets that might stay waiting for a reply are 3-4 days due to weekends (for the Tech Support crew only), or when patches are forthcoming.

When you send multiple tickets about the same thing in the same day over and over, you handicap yourself because you will get put at the back of the queue or our system will flag your emails as SPAM. We may never see it then. When you send multiple tickets like that, the reply you'll get back from us will take much longer to get then what you would have had to wait the first time.

Thanks!

How do I send you guys dxdiag and hijackthis logs?

When you all submit a ticket to us in Tech Support, if you guys can attach your dxdiag and hijackthis logs, it'll save you and us more time on trying to help you solve your issues. Please see the info below for instructions.

Thanks!

===> 1) If you could please send a DXDiag log, that would help us to diagnose the problem.

To do this, go to Start, click on run, then type in dxdiag and press enter. Click on Save All Information, then attach the text file to your reply. Please do not copy and then paste the text into your email, as our email system will filter it and make it useless to us. Add it to your email as an Attachment.

If in Vista, go to the Start Menu, click in the Search menu and type dxdiag.exe.

==> 2) In addition, a HijackThis log would be a big help.

Go to http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html and download and install the program. Click "Do a system scan and save a log file," then attach the text file to your reply.

Or, use this link to download the program if you need to, or use this link: http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis

Please do not copy and then paste the text into your email, as our email system will filter it and make it useless to us. Add it to your email as an Attachment.

We'll take a look at those, and give you feedback on our findings.

I can't login to one specific character, game crashes, help?

First, try logging in a few times on that character that is giving you trouble by holding down "W" while logging in.

If that doesn't work, go to the Launcher screen, go to Settings, and turn ALL of the Settings to the left, to be OFF and un-check (turn off) all of the graphic settings.

Select Windowed mode, and choose a default resolution like 800x600, or 1024x768 (or whatever works for you from the list.)

Then attempt to Start the game, select the character that was giving you the issue (and crashing to the desktop with an error log screen showing up) and see if you can get in game after making those changes.

---

My notes about this issue:
Very FEW users will occasionally have a character that they have when they try to login with it, the game will crash to desktop, with and error log screen displayed (like with A3d stuff with a list of log files). We have tried to reproduce this issue for awhile now, but haven't been able to. GMs have had to personally work to get a user's character out of this "limbo" that some users have gotten stuck in.

Well, once I encountered the issue, and saw what I had done, I went through our list of Tech Support things and had no success.

So when I did what is described above, I had immediate success. Seems there is a glitch if you are using a non-standard resolution and when certain textures are called by the engine, a character can have issues when trying to log back in.

Hopefully that helps some of you!

I get a "Client Running unable to proceed with update" message, Help?

This message appears when you attempt to launch or patch the game while it is already running.

First, check the system tray to see if the has been minimized there.

If not, go to the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and end any instances you see of patcher.exe, launcher.exe, elementclient.exe, and pwprotector.exe, then try again. If all else fails, reboot your computer.

How do I change my password or check my registration date?

Just go here: https://register.perfectworld.com/account

How can I keep my Windows PC maintained/running smoothly?

Excellent question, glad you asked! b:pleased

In my advice below, I won't give link examples for everything because some are already in our FAQs here.

Think of this as a guide that you should seriously consider printing out and putting up on the wall next to your PC. If you don't know how to do some of the things suggested, feel free to look them up online and get help from a PC Tech/Repair Professional.

Please use caution downloading and installing third party software because there are companies/groups out there that will make software that seems like it does everything you need, but installs malware/spyware/adware on your PC, which is not acceptable and can damage your data or system.

I recommend that you turn off and reboot your hardware periodically because electromagnetic interference can come from anywhere and cause "bits to flip" in electronics, among other anomalies. Turning them off and depriving them of power for a little while can help things go back to a more normal state.

The following advice applies to ALL types of PCs like: notebooks, laptops, netbooks, desktops, workstations, tablets, nettops, etc.

1) Run frequent antivirus, spyware, and malware security scans on your PC.
Some programs update themselves and run scans on their own, but you should make your own schedule to do so, at least weekly.

2) Completely shut down your PC for an hour at least once a week, if you don't do it daily. Not only does this give your system a chance to cool down, but also gives you a chance to listen and see if any of the fans, or your hard drive sounds weird as it slows down.

3) Unplug from electricity/turn off your networking gear for a few minutes at least once a week. This reboot of sorts helps the hardware to go back to working similar to a fresh unit out of the box.

4) Don't use hibernate or sleep modes all the time on your PC. Vista and 7 handle these features much better then XP on maintaining your data properly with minimal errors, but they can still cause issues with some programs. See number 2, as it is relative to this step.

5) Periodically check to see if there are updates for: your web browser and its plugins, your version of

Windows, BIOS, motherboard, DirectX, video drivers, sound drivers, network drivers, & security software. Checking ever 2-4 weeks should help.

6) Clean up your system by deleting Temp files, and by cleaning out your web browsing history, cache and cookies. Cleaning these off your system at least once a week can free up drive space and help your system run smoother.

7) Try to reduce the amount of SPAM/Junk email that you receive, or delete it if you you use a email client to download POP based emails on your PC instead of web based (like Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail).

8) Back up your data at every 1-2 weeks. RAID is overrated. Your media (music, movies, games, documents, pictures, projects, schoolwork, game saves, etc) should be copied to an external drive (hard drive or solid state), and kept in a secure location AWAY from where your PC is located. That way, if there is a fire, flood, theft, drive crash, or anything happens to your PC, you'll have a back up of your data, and hopefully only be a week or two behind on your work instead of losing it all.

9) Keep your wallpaper simple. Don't use the programs to change them all the time with pretty pictures or animations. This uses system resources that can be better utilized for something else.

10) Don't try to max out your desktop resolution just because you can. If you can set it a little bit lower and it still looks appealing to you, then do it. The less pixels your system has to push, the faster it is.

11) Don't use super pretty animated screensavers. Especially ones with elaborate animations or videos playing. These can eat up system resources and cause your system to have errors or crash especially if you are running a 3d program like a game.

12) Carefully go through your Add/Remove/Uninstall Programs area of your PC and remove programs that you no longer use, or that have "shown up", and you don't know how they got on your system. Make sure you aren't uninstalling a program that your system needs, or that you need.

13) (Optional) Unless you need the special features that some IM (Instant Messaging) programs provide, get a program that handles multiple IM types (like AIM/AOL, Yahoo, Live/MSN, ICQ) like Diggsby, Trillian, or others, and uninstall all of the other IM programs that you have.

14) Keep the number of programs that start up automatically when Windows boots up to a minimum. Having 1-4 programs that start up with Windows should be ok. Having none is really good. Having 5-15 or more starting up with Windows is PC suicide, as all of those programs are fighting for system resources which slows down your PC.

15) (Optional) Change the settings on your PC to limit animating Windows, and turn off graphic effects like transparencies, shadows and more. This will help speed up going between different Windows when multitasking.

16) Minimize Desktop Shortcuts. Try to keep them to 20-30 or lower. Launching programs through the Quick Launcher or Start Menu is quicker, and your PC can startup quicker. Disabling Desktop Shortcuts being displayed is an option as well.

17) Don't keep open mouth liquids near your PC to help minimize accidents. Have a table or flat space near your desk, or have a drink "area" lower then where your PC is.

18) Give your PC and display room the breathe. Make sure that there is at least 5.1-10.2cm (2-4 inches) on all sides of your display or PC, and anything near them. The air vents and fans need plenty of space to breathe on desktop PCs, or your system can overheat. For laptops and small form factor systems, you have to be careful and not use them on your bed covers, a carpet, jacket, or even your lap directly. Keep a flat hard book or other laptop friendly surface with your system so you can be sure that the laptop's vents and fans can circulate air properly. Having the back two corners or your laptop raised up at a slight angle can help airflow well.

19) A can of air with a straw nozzle attachment is your friend. Unplug your PC from the power supply. Blowing off the fans and vents on your laptop every few weeks is good. For desktops, opening up your case and blowing off everything is really good and should be done at least every 2 months. Blowing off your keyboard can help prevent crumbs from causing typos and stinking

20) If multiple people use your PC, carefully take some PC cleaner (or hand sanitizer) and apply it to a rag or paper towel first, smear it in some, and then clean your keyboard and mouse thoroughly. Depending on the frequency of the PC being used, this should be done every week or two. Keeps your gear from getting grimey, and helps cut down on passing germs and viruses. Keyboards and mice are some of the dirtiest objects in everyday life.

21) Use a surge protector power strip or uninterpretable power supply (UPS) with your PC, and have your networking and power cables hooked up to it. This can help protect your investment, and also help reduce noise and interference in the cables.

22) Don't use or install various search and "helpful" toolbars onto your system or web browser. These use system resources, and can be sniffing data on your PC which can also mess with your network traffic. Many of these are actually installing spyware or adware onto your system. Using Favorites or Bookmarks in your web browser instead will help your system run better. Plus, you won't be sharing your browsing history with a third party!

23) Keep at least 4-10GBs of hard drive space free for your programs and Windows to run properly. You may need to have even more free hard drive space depending on the programs that you install and their requirements.

More info:

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/50-expert-tips-to-make-your-pc-faster-622700

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx

What kind of Internet connection do I need to play?

You need a fast and stable broadband Internet connection with which to download and play the game with.

Definition of broadband: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband

A good way to gauge how fast your internet is, is to see how fast websites with SD-HD video stream/download for you.

Examples:
www.youtube.com
www.hulu.com
www.gametrailers.com

If the video only has to buffer for 1-3 seconds before it starts to play, then your connection should be more then fast enough for an MMO.

If it instantly starts playing, then that is even better!

If the video takes 5-30 seconds or more to buffer before you can start watching it, chances are your connection isn't ideal for playing online multiplayer games.

How do I change my Safety Lock Settings?


If you have accidentally set the Safety Lock for too long, here are the steps to change it.

1. Go to the Safety Lock window
2. Set the Safety Lock time to 1 minute
3. Confirm the time change
4. Wait three days

You do not have to remain logged in during the three day period, nor will logging in/out affect this wait time. However, if you try to change your Safety Lock settings again during this time, the seventy-two hour waiting period WILL restart, so please be patient.

Currently, the default setting for the Safety Lock is one minute. In other words, after logging in, you will have to wait for one minute before you are able to perform any of the actions mentioned below. The issue that many users are experiencing occurs when they change the Safety Lock duration. For instance, if you change the duration to two hours, then every time you log in, on any character, you will need to wait two hours before performing the aforementioned actions.

The Safety Lock CAN NOT be deactivated before the set time has elapsed, nor are GMs able to turn it off for you.

NOTICE:

This thread will still be posted here, but the latest Tech Support info that you will be able to find in the future will be here in our Knowledge Base:

https://support.perfectworld.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=15058

So please SEARCH for a solution there FIRST before you post, use live chat, or submit a ticket!

Thanks!

What can I do, my game crashes with only one character every time I try to login?

You can try turning down the graphic settings for the game, and then quickly clicking on "Return to Town", or "Town Portal" as the game logs in before it crashes.

You can try logging with your character. When the loading screen appears, press and hold the W key. (or the A, S, or D keys) When the game loads, your character should be running. The error message will still appear, but continue holding down W until your character has run beyond the spot where your game crashed. Restart the game and you should be able to play as normal. You may need to run the game in windowed mode for this to work. If your character was flying at the time, you will probably need to restart the game and try again after he lands.

If that doesn't work, go to the Launcher screen, go to Settings, and turn ALL of the Settings to the left, to be OFF and un-check (turn off) all of the graphic settings. Try experimenting with the in-game settings with another character.

Select Windowed mode, and choose a default resolution like 800x600, or 1024x768 (or whatever works for you from the list.)

Then attempt to Start the game, select the character that was giving you the issue (and crashing to the desktop with an error log screen showing up) and see if you can get in game after making those changes.

It may take multiple tries to get success.

(much thanks to our player community and Tech Support & QA teams for all of these work arounds!) b:victory

I'm having trouble downloading, how do I install with a .rar file?

You can keep trying Retry multiple times if you get the error popup.

Please try the direct download again, the pando link may have been replaced with a .rar zipped up installer. You may need to install WinRAR to extract the game installer. http://www.win-rar.com/download.html (this can apply to the torrent too)

You can go to the folder where you downloaded the rar file, right click on it, select Extract (to the name folder it suggests or inside that same folder) and let it then extract. After it does that (it can take awhile), then double click on the Setup file. The .exe and the bin files must be in the same folder. You should have at least 20GB of free space using the rar installer.

I'm getting a dll file missing error, there are missing NPCs and other graphics, help?

=====> Information to help with the .dll/DirectX error, and having missing characters or NPCs in the game:

1) If you encounter a DirectX error, dll error, or invisible characters, try updating with this on Windows 7, Vista, and XP:

Web Installer
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35

2) Then restart your computer.

You will need to install this if you get those kinds of errors, even if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 so that DirectX 9 files can be copied over to the right spot.

--OR--

You can try this method:

We found one source for the dll file, but don't know how genuine it is, so use AT YOUR OWN RISK.

1) You can download d3dx9_42.dll here: http://dllcentral.com/d3dx9_42.dll/9...3001/download/

2) Paste this file into your system32 and system folder. Also put it in your syswow

3) Navigate to your System32(32Bit OS) or SyWOW64(64Bit OS) Folder.
Note: The location of System32 or SyWOW64 is
C:Windows\System32 (If you are using 32Bit Windows)
C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (if you are using 64Bit Windows)

4) Paste the d3dx9_42.dll into this folder.

5) Run the game. It may or may not work now.


Your video chipset hardware needs to support features for DirectX 9.0c level minimum for graphic visuals. DirectX 9 came out in 2002 (10+ years ago), and 9.0c original spec came out in 2004.

Restart your PC and try again.

Your video chipset hardware needs to support features for DirectX 9.0c level minimum for graphic visuals. DirectX 9 came out in 2002 (10+ years ago), and 9.0c original spec came out in 2004.

Thank you all for your dedication, patience, and understanding on this latest major release!