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Forums > Home› Support› PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues› Windows and General: PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues

Am I crazy or is the game down?

borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
edited September 2014 in Windows and General: PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues
OK, I take it back again. game is down, or I'm broken, whatever. I cant get past this:

There was an error loading the login page. Please restart the launcher and try again.

Error -118 when loading url /launcher_login

Every single time I run the launcher, either directly (right click on Star Trek Online.exe and run as administrator) or if I launch via ARC.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

*** SOLVED ***

Please see post #14 in this thread for the solution I have found:

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=15448671&postcount=14
Post edited by borgmonkey2 on

Comments

  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,230 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    STO is up and running
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Good to know its just me being crazy at least. Not sure what to try next, any ideas?
  • deathmechanicdeathmechanic Member Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Game is down for me. Will let me log on and choose a character but try and go anywhere and it kicks me out.
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I've updated the launcher, cleared caches, tracert'd to 208.95.186.32, and still receiving:

    There was an error loading the login page. Please restart the launcher and try again.

    Error -118 when loading url /launcher_login
  • artemisa0kartemisa0k Member Posts: 142 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I had a similar problem to this last night I managed to fix it by starting the launcher and leaving it at the error screen then I used crtl+alt+del and went into the task manager found the process and right clicked to end the process tree.

    Tried it again and it worked without a hitch
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Thanks artemis, I've never tried that before, but unfortunately it did not help in my case. I am still receiving error -118 no matter what I try.

    I found these two threads on the forums about other instances of this type of error:

    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=944071
    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=971161

    Both seem to be about Cogent, Comcast, Time Warner etc issues forwarding traffic somewhere in between users and Cryptic, but I think my tracert does not show signs of that? (hopefully I removed only the right parts and not the important ones)

    >tracert 208.95.186.32

    Tracing route to 208.95.186.32 over a maximum of 30 hops

    1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dslrouter.westell.com [192.168.1.1]
    2 26 ms 25 ms 25 ms xxxxxx
    3 88 ms 24 ms 25 ms xxxxxx
    4 27 ms 26 ms 39 ms xxxxxx
    5 27 ms 27 ms 27 ms xxxxxx
    6 26 ms 28 ms 26 ms 206.111.7.149.ptr.us.xo.net [206.111.7.149]
    7 114 ms 107 ms 108 ms vb2000d1.rar3.seattle-wa.us.xo.net [207.88.13.142]
    8 111 ms 116 ms 144 ms te-4-0-0.rar3.denver-co.us.xo.net [207.88.12.82]
    9 110 ms 107 ms 108 ms te-4-1-0.rar3.chicago-il.us.xo.net [207.88.12.21]
    10 107 ms 105 ms 107 ms ae0d0.mcr2.cambridge-ma.us.xo.net [216.156.0.30]
    11 106 ms 106 ms 107 ms 209.117.103.10
    12 106 ms 105 ms 106 ms border11.te8-1-bbnet2.bsn.pnap.net [63.251.128.104]
    13 118 ms 112 ms 119 ms perfectworldent-4.border11.bsn.pnap.net [216.52.61.78]
    14 111 ms 111 ms 111 ms 208.95.186.32

    Trace complete.
  • grouchyotakugrouchyotaku Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    borgmonkey2 wrote: »
    Thanks artemis, I've never tried that before, but unfortunately it did not help in my case. I am still receiving error -118 no matter what I try.
    .......

    So have you tried using the proxy options in the Launcher?
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I've never configured that before, and I am not sure if I can turn it on at this point. All I do is double click the launcher (or right click,, run as admin) and then it comes up with the black window the size and shape of the launcher and says "Loading. Please wait." for approx. 30 seconds, and then goes directly to the:

    There was an error loading the login page. Please restart the launcher and try again.

    Error -118 when loading url /launcher_login

    Message, and there are no buttons or options I can click at that point to try to set a proxy.
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Also, I seem to be able to login to my account via ARC, or the website since I can post fine here, but if I try launching "GameClient.exe" directly and logging in that way, all I get is "Connecting to the account Server...." for a minute or so and then it times out.
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Is http://stostatus.com/ reliable anymore?. Seems like it could be outdated but I'm not sure.
  • speakerdadspeakerdad Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Same "118" error here. Game worked great last night, now today "poof"....nothing.

    Along with the advice above, I also tried reinstalling the launcher but nada, zip, no change.

    Desperate enough to try ARC now...lol
  • speakerdadspeakerdad Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Update - I have both cable and DSL service at my home. I can log into the game using my laptop which is connected to the cable service but cannot from my desktop which is connected to my dsl line.

    I also tried re-installing the game via ARC on the desktop pc (via dsl) with the same error 118.

    All other internet activities work fine on the dsl.

    So freaking weird that everything worked fine via dsl less than 20 hours ago....
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    OK, I'm about to snap, because this is crazy.

    I have found the answer!

    Rather, been led to it by others, but anyways, looks like ISP problems. I can circumvent for now via a free trial VPN which seems to be fast enough and reliable enough to connect to STO.

    Many dots were connected:

    this thread: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=944071

    these two: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1038771
    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1039081

    And my tracert. We all had similar ping times for legs in the "us.xo.net" domains. Putting that together with the results from the older lag/dc thread plus speakerdad's diagnosis that his cable worked but his DSL didnt (I have DSL, Frontier if it matters) Finally put it all together, so I tried the VPN and Voila!

    I dont know if it's these new "peering" arrangements I've been hearing about, or if there's network damage or even if it's ARC for all I know! (lol) but getting out of my DSL clutches and onto a VPN has been my trick.

    I'm going to go post in those other poor soul's threads now, but after that I'll see you all in game!
  • speakerdadspeakerdad Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I tried Hotspot Shield and yes, now I can connect via my dsl line....it is noticeably slower though.

    I think I'll get off the wallet and buy a wifi extender and USB receiver to get the cable service up in my man cave. TRIBBLE this dsl / cryptic bullschnibble.

    I should have been an IT guy and not acoustics engineer :)
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    How'd you know I was an IT guy!? ;)

    But yeah, This is absolutely the last straw for my old slow crappy DSL service....
  • imasterstarimasterstar Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I suddenly started to have the same issues today with launching STO...

    There was an error loading the login page. Please restart the launcher and try again.

    Error -118 when loading url /launcher_login

    This occurs whenever I try to start up STO launcher.

    It's definately not internet issues on my end, I don't even use DSL. The MAIN thing is though... it was working perfectly fine just 2 days ago and NOTHING has changed on my end since then.

    Based on what I've seen and heard on the forums, it could be some kind of connection problem to the game servers... except I don't think there's anything I could do on my end to fix it.

    At this point I'm hoping either the issue resolves itself soon or Cryptic's tech guys will be able to diagnose and fix the problem quickly.
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    All I can say is, I was sure it wasn't my ISP, everything else checked out fine, but as soon as Iwent to VPN, boom it worked instantly.

    I dont know if it's these new "peering" arrangements I've been hearing about, or if there's network damage or even if it's ARC for all I know! :P but getting out of my DSL clutches and onto a VPN has been my trick.
  • imasterstarimasterstar Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    How do you go about creating a VPN to connect onto STO?

    I've run trace route and everything and the problem within the connection network seems to be closer to the game server's end.

    I've submitted a ticket already but I don't know how long it's gonna take them to get back to me....
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    For what it's worth, my problem appears to have been temporary. I was able to log into STO normally today from my ISP with no VPN. Not sure what was going on, but happy it is fixed.

    My quick and dirty research on VPNs yesterday pointed me to ibvpn.com, and it worked for me, but ymmv. There are a lot of scams out there apparently. Ibvpn made me install a piece of software in order to connect, so I could be viruses right now and not even know it, but everything seems fine. I went with ibvpn because of their free trial, which is actually free, but very limited, only 6 hours in fact. I just went through checkout on the cheapest plan, then removed the $5 item from my cart leaving the free 6 hour trial, and completed that way, all bogus info, no credit card needed. Again, ymmv with all this, so be careful when downloading or installing any software from the Internet, but it worked for me.

    Good luck!
  • borgmonkey2borgmonkey2 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited September 2014
    I'm back necro'ing my own thread.

    Here I am 6 months later, and the exact same problem is happening. I know the game is not down, but I cant log in. If I connect through any VPN service, I can log in just fine. I dont know if this is connectivity issues with my ISP, or Cryptic's, but there is definitely a problem between me and them unless I use a VPN.
  • grouchyotakugrouchyotaku Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2014
    borgmonkey2 wrote: »
    I'm back necro'ing my own thread.

    Here I am 6 months later, and the exact same problem is happening. I know the game is not down, but I cant log in. If I connect through any VPN service, I can log in just fine. I dont know if this is connectivity issues with my ISP, or Cryptic's, but there is definitely a problem between me and them unless I use a VPN.

    If a VPN connection works, then that means its a ISP issue, or its an issue with the Internet Backbone Provider that your ISP chooses to peer with... (and easy enough to prove with a 'Path Ping' diagnostic result...)

    If it was a Cryptic issue, then all the STO Forums would be aflame with all the angry players, and this is simply not the case here...
  • nikephorusnikephorus Member Posts: 2,744 Arc User
    edited September 2014
    I'm also unable to login. I just get a error message saying "unable to authenticate" after I enter my password in the launcher window.
    Tza0PEl.png
  • askrayaskray Member Posts: 3,329 Arc User
    edited September 2014
    Folks, please don't necro these types of threads especially. If you're having connection issues, please follow the information in the sticky thread.
    Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care.
    Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
    Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113


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