In clients/launchers -> options:
1. Make sure to UNTICK (set OFF) on demand patching AND ALSO
2. Make sure to TICK (set ON) force verify (while the above setting applies too)
save as applicable,
game should start verifying the files (you seem to have an error hence this advice) and possibly patching
After done, press engage to start the game
Note: I am not a support stuff but this helped some. There is no harm beside time investion etc in force verification.
P.S. For after you can login already, I would keep on demand patching OFF for the longer term too, from my and others' experience it's less problematic. other, more controversial (proxy) setting is in spoiler section bellow, in case it didn't help.
Also, If you can login after this, but STILL experiencing frequent rubberbanding and multiple episodes of slowliness/intense "lag"/disconnects/SNRs etc, and you don't use Eu proxy, you may also try to set your game proxy to EU, but no responsibility here - it may affect your connection stability etc. Still, some people, including myself, experience some high latency/connectivity issues lately and some, also including myself, noticed setting the proxy settings to Eu gives mostly the best results for them. Note that things can be changed in this regard in time, so this may not be a permanently good/effective advice.
After joining in on an tfo to complete the current endeavor i got kicked. Relogging did not work. Closed the game, restarted it and went to account guard to re verify, did not work. Then went to force verify the game files. Still no luck. Rebooted my connection at no luck and now i am stuck on the launcher with this line - Unable to connect to account server (3) - No matter what i do or do not do i simply am unable to get back into game
Jim: I know the feeling. Finally decided to summarize what's happened to me since yesterday.
After Wednesday's Windows 7 Update (which dumped me with almost no warning out of STO during a battle with the Fek'ihri in the "Afterlife" KDF mission, and then rebooted my computer; even though I've told Windows Update not to update or reboot without informing me first) and yesterday's STO patch, I can no longer play STO ... at all. At first it usually just crashed to desktop. But after about six or seven failed attempts on my part, it now just freezes my computer without patching more than 0% (and via the pop-up error reporting window, I've reported the game crashing on me at least seven times). All I can do is press the power button until the computer shuts off and then press it again to reboot. I've uninstalled STO, Steam, and ARC. Then I've reinstalled Steam and ARC, and then tried to reinstall STO (including the standalone launcher). Computer froze again. I don't know what else to do. I've had STO freeze on me in the past; I've had STO crash to desktop on me; I've had STO fail to log-in; etc. But those were all temporary; eventually I could log-in and patch okay again. This time, though, I think it's permanent. I can't even tell my newest STO friend that I won't be able to be back on STO again; I don't have her email address. Not exactly the best sign-off after 5 out of 6 years of playing STO. Not a rage-quit. Just a what-else-can-I-do-but-give-up reaction.
Hope you're able to get it fixed on your end.
P.S.: I've checked STO forums (including network bug reports), ARC, Steam, Reddit, Twitter, and other websites. No recent report whatsoever of what happened to me STO-wise. Maybe it's unique to me this time. (Also, I installed World of Warships earlier today. No problems. Logged in. No problems. Played several battles. No problems. Logged out. No problems.) I wish someone could tell me that Cryptic is aware of my STO-related problems and is doing their best to solve it. Or that I just won't be able to play it anymore. Either answer would be okay with me. I would prefer the first answer, however. I miss STO alot already.
Ye it sucks when the game does stuff like that eh For me it got solved tho, no clue how or why. I simply went to do some real life stuff and a few hours later i could finally log again and play in game. Still no clue what or why it happend either it just broke down on me and fixed all automatically *laughs*.
Your problem seems to be much more severe tho and a result of that windows update I hate that TRIBBLE... Have had a similar experience with windows update on my laptop in the summer of 2018. Ended up sending the machine back to the manufacturer where it turned out to be the main board that broke down but strange enough... was doing a win update back then and when it needed to reboot it simply broke the comp *shrugs*
As for your problem i suspect there is more at large then just not being able to log in game, it sounds like somewhere one of your hardware components are freezing up on you. Maybe it is something on the graphics card, if possible try to switch it out and see if the problem still is there.
Jim: I know the feeling. Finally decided to summarize what's happened to me since yesterday.
After Wednesday's Windows 7 Update (which dumped me with almost no warning out of STO during a battle with the Fek'ihri in the "Afterlife" KDF mission, and then rebooted my computer; even though I've told Windows Update not to update or reboot without informing me first) and yesterday's STO patch, I can no longer play STO ... at all. At first it usually just crashed to desktop. But after about six or seven failed attempts on my part, it now just freezes my computer without patching more than 0% (and via the pop-up error reporting window, I've reported the game crashing on me at least seven times). All I can do is press the power button until the computer shuts off and then press it again to reboot. I've uninstalled STO, Steam, and ARC. Then I've reinstalled Steam and ARC, and then tried to reinstall STO (including the standalone launcher). Computer froze again. I don't know what else to do. I've had STO freeze on me in the past; I've had STO crash to desktop on me; I've had STO fail to log-in; etc. But those were all temporary; eventually I could log-in and patch okay again. This time, though, I think it's permanent. I can't even tell my newest STO friend that I won't be able to be back on STO again; I don't have her email address. Not exactly the best sign-off after 5 out of 6 years of playing STO. Not a rage-quit. Just a what-else-can-I-do-but-give-up reaction.
Hope you're able to get it fixed on your end.
P.S.: I've checked STO forums (including network bug reports), ARC, Steam, Reddit, Twitter, and other websites. No recent report whatsoever of what happened to me STO-wise. Maybe it's unique to me this time. (Also, I installed World of Warships earlier today. No problems. Logged in. No problems. Played several battles. No problems. Logged out. No problems.) I wish someone could tell me that Cryptic is aware of my STO-related problems and is doing their best to solve it. Or that I just won't be able to play it anymore. Either answer would be okay with me. I would prefer the first answer, however. I miss STO alot already.
> @"jimduval#7537" said: > Ye it sucks when the game does stuff like that eh :( For me it got solved tho, no clue how or why. I simply went to do some real life stuff and a few hours later i could finally log again and play in game. Still no clue what or why it happend either it just broke down on me and fixed all automatically *laughs*. > > Your problem seems to be much more severe tho and a result of that windows update :o I hate that TRIBBLE... Have had a similar experience with windows update on my laptop in the summer of 2018. Ended up sending the machine back to the manufacturer where it turned out to be the main board that broke down but strange enough... was doing a win update back then and when it needed to reboot it simply broke the comp *shrugs* > > As for your problem i suspect there is more at large then just not being able to log in game, it sounds like somewhere one of your hardware components are freezing up on you. Maybe it is something on the graphics card, if possible try to switch it out and see if the problem still is there.
For two days (Thursday and yesterday) I tried everything I could think of, plus suggestions from STO forums, Arc forums, Steam forums, Reddit forums, etc. None of them worked. Rebooting the computer didn't solve the STO launcher/patcher problem (nor did rebooting the modem). I've never had this extreme of a problem with an online game. That's why I tried installing and running World of Warships. Figured a similar problem would happen ... it didn't. Norton 360's firewall's exclusion list includes Star Trek Online. I tried several times installing from a standalone launcher, tried using Arc's launcher, and Steam's launcher. They get to the patching part (now only reaching 0%) and then Windows 7 freezes. Ctl-Alt-Del doesn't work. I have to power down and then reboot (choosing "normally" in the list of reboot choices). I've tried booting into Windows in safe mode. Everything seems to be working as far as I can tell (I didn't test STO while in safe mode, though). In the options for STO's launcher, I've clicked on "safe mode" and "verify files". None of this works for me; Windows just freezes up and I have to power down and reboot (not the normal reboot). I checked the graphics card for overheating ... feels okay to me. Checked power supply for overheating ... feels okay to me. Whatever that Windows 7 update was on Wednesday mixed with the STO patch on Thursday, STO is the only game so far that I can't play anymore. I hope I don't have to do a reinstall of Windows 7 (I still have the CDs tha computer came with) and then try to reinstall STO. I'd rather not have to. Graphics card ... I don't have any spares. The one that's in the computer is a replacement for an earlier one (I bought the replacement at Best Buy and one of the techs there installed it and the software for me). I don't have enough money to purchase a newer (if not new) graphics card, so I'm stuck with what I have. At least I've had 5 out of 6 years on STO (I took a year's break from late 2017 to about three months ago). Mostly really good memories since Fall 2012. I'll miss making more memories.
On another topic: I typed up (on Wednesday) five single-spaced pages of an idea for a Star Trek: Enterprise tutorial and the next five or six missions, which I guess I'll post here on STO's website, in case Cryptic wants to use some or all of what I typed as raw materials. I'll put it in Ten Forward, and you can read it if you want to and see what you think. It's incomplete, though, because I ran out of ideas. It was stream-of-consciousness, so no doubt there are errors, but I figured as raw materials it was okay as is.
Btw, Jim: If you want to email me and continue this STO-related problem discussion, feel free to contact me at: russianteacookie@gmail.com. (My real first name is Philip.) You don't have to, I mean. It's your choice.
Update (some good and some bad news): I used the registry fix program (part of Glary Utilities). That seemed to work okay. Then tried to launch/patch STO. This time it didn't freeze the computer at 0% patching ... it froze the computer at 4.5% patching. So it's an improvement ... just not much of one. Maybe in another week or so I'll try again and see if I get past 4.5% patching (the first time the patching failed it reached 85% or 89% before freezing the computer). In the meantime, I will continue wishing/hoping/dreaming that I could be back on STO, chatting with friends, doing missions, grinding, etc. Btw, when I've done the tracert, there's only two steps (my modem's address and Cryptic's), less than 1 ms on the first step and about 5 ms or so on the second step. Since it's using the command prompt, unfortunately I can't copy/paste the results into this message. But when I've run tracert in the past, it usually has alot more steps than just two. Also, I went to a website to test my computer's connection speed (download, upload, etc.) and I'm either a little faster than the average or a little slower, but no sign that it would cause any problems patching STO.
(Also, in the meantime I have downloaded, installed, and played DC Universe Online. Without any problems at all.)
I will keep reporting if I experience/learn anything new about all this. And if any devs, programmers, etc. could tell me what it's like on their end, that would be very much appreciated. I realize that a super-complicated MMORPG is difficult to keep as bug-free as possible. If a bug is fixed in one area, it might or might not trigger a bug (new or old) in another area. It's the nature of the beast. After all, look at what's been happening with Windows 10 (and because if it, why I'm sticking with Windows 7 for as long as possible) over the last year or two.
Bad news first: I still haven't found a solution to the patch freeze/computer freeze problem.
Good news (sort of): There's a third user (Coachles is his or her username) who's reporting the same problem, only they put it into the program bugs forum. I referred them to this forum and this thread. Maybe something of what I've tried (and failed at) will help them. I can only hope so.
Maybe with three of us suffering, Cryptic will take the problem much more seriously (if they haven't already). Knock on wood we three will be back on STO in less than a week. I'd be willing to wait a month, however, if it meant the problem was solved and we three were back on STO again.
Yep, I have tried everything I can think of... but positive the error is not on my end, or my PC.
...and maybe having the issue being spoke about in two area will get some attention from Tech Support. @Admin @Tech
The best I can figure is there may have been a change to "acceptable" video cards? Maybe?
I use a NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 for my system, which is up to date on drivers, etc.
I'm not buying a new one until I build a new computer later in the year, but the game settings have done this before in previous updates, so not surprised...
...just upset that now that I have time to play a lot... I can't.
I have an NVidia GeForce GT 740. It was fine in STO (drivers are up to date, NVidia's drivers as well as other drivers; Adobe Flash Player is up to date) ... up until Thursday's patch. Wednesdays Win7 update kicked me out of STO, but I was able to come back after reboot to play more STO. But after Thursday's patch ... nothing but crash-to-desktop, incomplete patching, incomplete reinstalling, and then more incomplete patching. I could only think, "What in the world did I do? Or - for that matter - what in the world didn't I do? Would someone please tell me?"
I figure three of us suffering this problem (or set of problems) is better than just one. I'll tell ya: Thursday and Friday felt awfully alone for me. I couldn't find *any* report of *any* kind on the Internet (not just at STO's website), except from 2018 and earlier. I thought it must be unique to me, that there was something currently wrong with my computer and/or its software, and no idea how to fix it. Then Jim posted his problem on this website. I felt better; I wasn't so alone anymore. And then you posted. Granted, I don't want *any* STO player to suffer this problem, but, as you said, maybe this will get Cryptic's attention. I really really hope so. Usually there's a message from Cryptic saying basically, "We're aware of the problem and we're doing everything we can to fix it." I've been looking for that, and finding nothing. Not here, not on Twitter, not on Reddit.
I really want to be back playing with my two (or three) KDF-allied Romulans, my two KDF characters (Orion and Ferasan), as well my Fed characters. And my in-game friends are probably wondering, "Where in the world did so-and-so go? He's usually on here at least several hours every day." Well, I can't tell them anything. I don't have their email addresses (I think I gave one of them my email address prior to Thursday afternoon). At least I'll be able to post (once Arc lets me; my STO account is at least a few months old, but that's via the launcher, not here at STO's website) five single-spaced pages for possible raw material to help Cryptic create a tutorial and several episodes for the Star Trek: Enterprise era ... granted it's incomplete, but it was the best I could do. I'm not really good at sci-fi writing, or story-plotting for that matter.
Starting to think it may also have something to do with Arc Defender too.
EVERY time I've logged in here today, it thinks I'm on a different system, so have to then go to my email for the security code it sends out.
...damn, we should receive a bunch of free keys for this BS
... once we can log into the game and use them. Sheeesh!
I don't really care about free lockbox keys. I just want to get back on STO.
Btw, I've also had Arc (after I reinstalled it) say that I needed to check email and type in the code given to me. That didn't fix the computer freezing during patching of STO, though. So that *might* not be the problem. I think it's something that was affected by the patched software (there were alot of fixes in the patch notes, after all). A line or two of code being changed in one area of a very very complicated program can easily break something else elsewhere in it. It's not the first time it's happened; it's just the first time the "break" has blocked me from STO for this long. In the past, Cryptic has usually posted a message on the website (as well as on Twitter) that there's a problem and they're looking into it. And within a day or two (a week at most), they find the problem and a way to solve it. But this time there's nothing from Cryptic. Maybe I just need to be patient (more than I've already been). Not easy to do, but I'll do my best.
I think I can understand now why Kirk was so eager to get back on the bridge of the Enterprise in ST:TMP. I don't think he was obsessed or addicted as Dr. McCoy thought he might be; I think Kirk was simply happier on the Enterprise's bridge than he ever was sitting behind a desk at Starfleet. And it's possible that the ship was also happier when he was aboard again. They belonged together.
Bad news first: I still haven't found a solution to the patch freeze/computer freeze problem.
Good news (sort of): There's a third user (Coachles is his or her username) who's reporting the same problem, only they put it into the program bugs forum. I referred them to this forum and this thread. Maybe something of what I've tried (and failed at) will help them. I can only hope so.
Maybe with three of us suffering, Cryptic will take the problem much more seriously (if they haven't already). Knock on wood we three will be back on STO in less than a week. I'd be willing to wait a month, however, if it meant the problem was solved and we three were back on STO again.
Ohw no man you got me wrong, i was just trying to help you out. I am not suffering from the same problems and can log in game just fine It is strange more players are starting to experiencing this in a similar maner, that would suggest it is an game problem and not hardware as i suspected at first. I do hope they take a look into this soon tho, you guys need it sorted and get back in the game asap.
> @"jimduval#7537" said: > > Oh no man you got me wrong, i was just trying to help you out. I am not suffering from the same problems and can log in game just fine :) It is strange more players are starting to experiencing this in a similar manner, that would suggest it is an game problem and not hardware as i suspected at first. I do hope they take a look into this soon tho, you guys need it sorted and get back in the game asap.
Jim: I misunderstood, then. My apologies. I had hoped that with three suffering, it would get more attention than two suffering would. Then it's just two of us, Coachles and me.
For me, logging-in works fine ... freezing problem doesn't occur until STO starts patching. There's no warning or any specific percentage when my computer freezes. It can happen at any moment. I just wish it would at least reach the "CRYPTIC Loading ..." screen, if not all the way to the choose-your-character screen. I would even prefer lag and rubber-banding to being locked out of STO.
I'll just keep hoping, praying, and dreaming that STO will work for me again someday. Watching STO videos on YouTube is okay, but just not the same as playing it myself. "Like postcards from heaven ... nothing like the real thing," as someone once said.
Jim: Correction: I remember seeing an "Error 31" message in a pop-up window the last time I tried patching STO. But the patching didn't stop. It wasn't until patching reached 4.5% when the computer froze. Apparently this isn't the first time users have gotten an "Error 31" message or patches have caused computers to freeze or STO launcher (or any other online game's launcher) hasn't worked. It's happened at least once a year with STO, going back several years, according to what I found via Google. Not exactly encouraging, but at least it means that what Coachles and I've been experiencing isn't anything unique. If it's been fixed before, there should be a way (or ways) to fix it again. I just wish I knew how.
First find - error 31
found 1 way to fix it in the option menu of the launcher unclick (on demand patching)
that worked for me.
Second find - Looks like a corrupted HOGG file.
Relaunch the STO launcher, and under "options", select "force verify", then log in and wait for the verification process to complete (about 5-10 minutes depending on your system).
My suggestion from here, turn on demand patching off. Keep it off and run a Force Verify. Do not turn on on demand patching, there is no real need for it and by the time the game stops running because of on demand patching is off you can always fix it by force verify
Jim: I just tried launching/patching STO several minutes ago. Unclicked "Patching on demand" and clicked "Force verify". Results: Verification was brief (it didn't check all the files), but apparently it decided that was enough. Patching then began. Patching reached 1.65% and froze the computer. All I could do was press the power button until the computer shut off and then reboot. Computer rebooted just fine. (As a precaution, yesterday I created another restore point. Hopefully I won't have to use it.)
I'm out of ideas, short of having to reinstall Win7 all over again, which I really don't want to do. Everything else is working, after all. I guess I'll try again after Thursday's patch. Maybe something in that patch will fix what Coachles and I've been suffering through.
After re reading the previous posts i noticed you did an register repair that seemed to help a little. That could mean it is a registry problem, Try to deinstal sto and everything cryptic/pwe related including an manual search trough the registry, make sure to remove every bit of sto related there then reboot the comp to make sure the registry files are saved then after reboot try an reinstall of sto. It may be an slight chance but it might save you from reinstalling windows and still getting the game back to work.
Honestly if that does not work i do not see any other way then to reinstall win 7 due too an faulty registry, everything including that error code does suggest it is deep enough as a fault so might be just as wel related to an faulty registry.
*ps* pls do take care when messing around in the registry files manually, 1 wrong move and you end up being even worse of then just the loss of playing sto*
Jim: I did try what you suggested before (except for manually going into Win7 registry). I went into Win7 control panel, went to programs listing, uninstalled STO. Then went into Windows Explorer and deleted every directory that had to do with STO. Then uninstalled Arc and Steam. Then reinstalled Arc and tried to reinstall STO. That didn't work; computer froze. Then reinstalled Steam and tried to reinstall STO. That also didn't work; computer froze again. (I don't think there would be any software conflicts between Arc and Steam, but I'm not a programmer so I'm not sure. Prior to last Thursday's patch, I always used what I thought was a stand-alone STO launcher/patcher and as long as the server light was green, I could always launch/patch just fine.) Which was when I decided to use Glary Utilities and do a registry clean-up. Nothing immediately wrong afterward. So I thought, "Why not try STO again? Maybe it'll launch and patch okay this time." Computer froze again. I can try uninstalling/deleting/reinstalling STO again, but will it actually do any good the second time around? I honestly don't know.
The fact that STO is the only program that isn't working puzzles me. And, more specifically, out of three MMORPGs, STO is the only one that isn't working. Which really puzzles me.
I checked NVidia's driver update. It's up to date. I used Glary Utilities to check to see if any other drivers aren't up to date. All the drivers are up to date. (I don't use Win7 to update drivers; I've heard that it tends to install its own - less effective - drivers.)
I agree that something is seriously broken. It's possible that Wednesday's Windows Update messed up something deep inside Windows 7's code. Microsoft has admitted since that update that there is a network-related (and authentication-related, but this hasn't affected me) problem which they are trying to solve as soon as they can. Which is why I've been in no hurry to reinstall Win7. I want to wait and see what Microsoft's update fix does first. If it solves the problem, then I don't need to reinstall Win7. But would a network-related problem only affect STO and nothing else? And why would patching STO cause the entire OS to freeze so that I need to do a hard shutdown and reboot? Something here - pardon the pun - doesn't compute.
Btw, I don't directly (i.e., manually) mess with Windows registry. That's like playing with fire or juggling with nitro glycerin. I'd rather let a program like Glary Utilities do it for me; it seems to know what it's doing.
At least the rest of the software on the computer (including Win7) is working fine, as far as I can tell. And the hard drive doesn't seem to be complaining about all the hard-shutdowns and reboots ... yet.
Sorry for the lengthy messages, but figured too much information about my end of things would be more helpful to you (and any devs reading your and my messages).
And last, but not least: Thank you so much for your continued sympathy and suggestions. I just wish that was all I needed to get STO launcher/patcher back up and running again. If it were, I'd be over the moon with happiness. Once I'm back in STO, I will try to find some way to add you to my friends list. You've more than earned it.
Jim: Update (not good news): I found a webpage with an IT article about the January 9, 2019 update for Win7. It mentioned one file: KB4480970. It suggested uninstalling it, rebooting the computer, and then installing the fixed update from Microsoft. I installed it, rebooted the computer ... and it froze before completing the reboot. I managed to get most of the way through the loading of the desktop and TSR programs. Soooo ... I rebooted the computer yet again, but into safe mode with networking. Found that I couldn't install the fixed Win7 update file while in safe mode. I checked Windows troubleshooting (the choice I needed - uninstalled windows update file and computer freezes - wasn't one of the ones listed). Not knowing what else I could do, I decided to restore to yesterday's restore point (one that I created manually). The restore worked.
I'm beginning to suspect that you probably are correct. That somewhere deep in the bowels of Win7 code is the problem that's plaguing me and preventing me from patching and playing STO. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that problem is. There are two other files downloaded as part of last Wednesday's Win7 update. I did not uninstall them. I don't know if I can do so safely and have the computer completely reboot back to desktop without freezing.
So I'm back to square one or wherever I was. And feeling more frustrated (not angry, just unhappy and somewhat helpless).
I don't know what I can do now, short of reinstalling Win7 (I have the disks that the computer came with; one disk for the OS, the other disk for the drivers).
Jim: Turns out the system restore didn't work after all. I checked a minimized window in the taskbar, and because I had Norton 360 running, that meant that *one* file wasn't accessible to system restore. So no changes were made. Which means I'm back to where I was, before I uninstalled the Win7 update file, I guess. Why would Norton interfere with a system restore? *sigh* Should I try doing the system restore again? The computer's working again, so why bother?
Jim: Guess what? You were right: I *did* need to reinstall Win7. Including reinstalling other software that I needed, it's taken me about 5 to 5 1/2 hours. But the launcher worked. The patch finished installing. And now I just need to get the code that the game is asking me to enter (I have to go to my email account to get the code). I just wish I'd known this three days ago.
My my you had a busy night eh :O Anyhow glad to hear it finally worked ^_^ congratz to that.
Thing with registry coding is that it is really iffy and programs as that glary thingy do not always get deep enough to get it fixed. That is why i said todo it manualy, and yes that is an dangerous proces but could have fixed it none the less. Thankfully that is redundant for now as you reinstalled and it fixed it all
Now be smart, when you can get back into game and have done all the updates and stuff installed what you need to be on the computer. Right away do an backup if possibly. You then have a backup of the computer in its healthiest and working state and then when ever this problem shows again you simply place back the back up no reinstalling needed
As for my support that is an small thing to me honestly, as gamer i can totally relate to how it feels when you can not get into the game you play on a daily basis and have had my fair share of mistakes, might as wel share my knowledge right ^_^ as for reaching me in game that is no probs at all, i am not in game atm but will be somewhat later today you should then be able to find me at jimduval#7537: . For now i wish you happy gaming and am sure we will meet again
So I have been having this same issue since yesterday evening. Everything was working fine during the day early then I had RT things to deal with and when I tried to run STO last night it would start the progress bar after hitting "engage" and it would progress about 2/3's of the way then just close the screen, not minimize, but close it out. I have done everything but reinstalling ARC about 15 times over the last 18 hrs or so, force verify, etc.... I logged a ticket that has yet to be responded to as well. Just no game time.... I am looking for solutions that seem to be cryptic to find...lol
Comments
In clients/launchers -> options:
1. Make sure to UNTICK (set OFF) on demand patching AND ALSO
2. Make sure to TICK (set ON) force verify (while the above setting applies too)
save as applicable,
game should start verifying the files (you seem to have an error hence this advice) and possibly patching
After done, press engage to start the game
Note: I am not a support stuff but this helped some. There is no harm beside time investion etc in force verification.
P.S. For after you can login already, I would keep on demand patching OFF for the longer term too, from my and others' experience it's less problematic. other, more controversial (proxy) setting is in spoiler section bellow, in case it didn't help.
Edit
lol, just realised how old this was.
EDIT:I was able to login just now but it was slow and took several tries to do so. I'm on PC thru steam and live in Finland.
After Wednesday's Windows 7 Update (which dumped me with almost no warning out of STO during a battle with the Fek'ihri in the "Afterlife" KDF mission, and then rebooted my computer; even though I've told Windows Update not to update or reboot without informing me first) and yesterday's STO patch, I can no longer play STO ... at all. At first it usually just crashed to desktop. But after about six or seven failed attempts on my part, it now just freezes my computer without patching more than 0% (and via the pop-up error reporting window, I've reported the game crashing on me at least seven times). All I can do is press the power button until the computer shuts off and then press it again to reboot. I've uninstalled STO, Steam, and ARC. Then I've reinstalled Steam and ARC, and then tried to reinstall STO (including the standalone launcher). Computer froze again. I don't know what else to do. I've had STO freeze on me in the past; I've had STO crash to desktop on me; I've had STO fail to log-in; etc. But those were all temporary; eventually I could log-in and patch okay again. This time, though, I think it's permanent. I can't even tell my newest STO friend that I won't be able to be back on STO again; I don't have her email address. Not exactly the best sign-off after 5 out of 6 years of playing STO. Not a rage-quit. Just a what-else-can-I-do-but-give-up reaction.
Hope you're able to get it fixed on your end.
P.S.: I've checked STO forums (including network bug reports), ARC, Steam, Reddit, Twitter, and other websites. No recent report whatsoever of what happened to me STO-wise. Maybe it's unique to me this time. (Also, I installed World of Warships earlier today. No problems. Logged in. No problems. Played several battles. No problems. Logged out. No problems.) I wish someone could tell me that Cryptic is aware of my STO-related problems and is doing their best to solve it. Or that I just won't be able to play it anymore. Either answer would be okay with me. I would prefer the first answer, however. I miss STO alot already.
Your problem seems to be much more severe tho and a result of that windows update I hate that TRIBBLE... Have had a similar experience with windows update on my laptop in the summer of 2018. Ended up sending the machine back to the manufacturer where it turned out to be the main board that broke down but strange enough... was doing a win update back then and when it needed to reboot it simply broke the comp *shrugs*
As for your problem i suspect there is more at large then just not being able to log in game, it sounds like somewhere one of your hardware components are freezing up on you. Maybe it is something on the graphics card, if possible try to switch it out and see if the problem still is there.
> Ye it sucks when the game does stuff like that eh :( For me it got solved tho, no clue how or why. I simply went to do some real life stuff and a few hours later i could finally log again and play in game. Still no clue what or why it happend either it just broke down on me and fixed all automatically *laughs*.
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> Your problem seems to be much more severe tho and a result of that windows update :o I hate that TRIBBLE... Have had a similar experience with windows update on my laptop in the summer of 2018. Ended up sending the machine back to the manufacturer where it turned out to be the main board that broke down but strange enough... was doing a win update back then and when it needed to reboot it simply broke the comp *shrugs*
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> As for your problem i suspect there is more at large then just not being able to log in game, it sounds like somewhere one of your hardware components are freezing up on you. Maybe it is something on the graphics card, if possible try to switch it out and see if the problem still is there.
For two days (Thursday and yesterday) I tried everything I could think of, plus suggestions from STO forums, Arc forums, Steam forums, Reddit forums, etc. None of them worked. Rebooting the computer didn't solve the STO launcher/patcher problem (nor did rebooting the modem). I've never had this extreme of a problem with an online game. That's why I tried installing and running World of Warships. Figured a similar problem would happen ... it didn't. Norton 360's firewall's exclusion list includes Star Trek Online. I tried several times installing from a standalone launcher, tried using Arc's launcher, and Steam's launcher. They get to the patching part (now only reaching 0%) and then Windows 7 freezes. Ctl-Alt-Del doesn't work. I have to power down and then reboot (choosing "normally" in the list of reboot choices). I've tried booting into Windows in safe mode. Everything seems to be working as far as I can tell (I didn't test STO while in safe mode, though). In the options for STO's launcher, I've clicked on "safe mode" and "verify files". None of this works for me; Windows just freezes up and I have to power down and reboot (not the normal reboot). I checked the graphics card for overheating ... feels okay to me. Checked power supply for overheating ... feels okay to me. Whatever that Windows 7 update was on Wednesday mixed with the STO patch on Thursday, STO is the only game so far that I can't play anymore. I hope I don't have to do a reinstall of Windows 7 (I still have the CDs tha computer came with) and then try to reinstall STO. I'd rather not have to. Graphics card ... I don't have any spares. The one that's in the computer is a replacement for an earlier one (I bought the replacement at Best Buy and one of the techs there installed it and the software for me). I don't have enough money to purchase a newer (if not new) graphics card, so I'm stuck with what I have. At least I've had 5 out of 6 years on STO (I took a year's break from late 2017 to about three months ago). Mostly really good memories since Fall 2012. I'll miss making more memories.
On another topic: I typed up (on Wednesday) five single-spaced pages of an idea for a Star Trek: Enterprise tutorial and the next five or six missions, which I guess I'll post here on STO's website, in case Cryptic wants to use some or all of what I typed as raw materials. I'll put it in Ten Forward, and you can read it if you want to and see what you think. It's incomplete, though, because I ran out of ideas. It was stream-of-consciousness, so no doubt there are errors, but I figured as raw materials it was okay as is.
Btw, Jim: If you want to email me and continue this STO-related problem discussion, feel free to contact me at: russianteacookie@gmail.com. (My real first name is Philip.) You don't have to, I mean. It's your choice.
(Also, in the meantime I have downloaded, installed, and played DC Universe Online. Without any problems at all.)
I will keep reporting if I experience/learn anything new about all this. And if any devs, programmers, etc. could tell me what it's like on their end, that would be very much appreciated. I realize that a super-complicated MMORPG is difficult to keep as bug-free as possible. If a bug is fixed in one area, it might or might not trigger a bug (new or old) in another area. It's the nature of the beast. After all, look at what's been happening with Windows 10 (and because if it, why I'm sticking with Windows 7 for as long as possible) over the last year or two.
Bad news first: I still haven't found a solution to the patch freeze/computer freeze problem.
Good news (sort of): There's a third user (Coachles is his or her username) who's reporting the same problem, only they put it into the program bugs forum. I referred them to this forum and this thread. Maybe something of what I've tried (and failed at) will help them. I can only hope so.
Maybe with three of us suffering, Cryptic will take the problem much more seriously (if they haven't already). Knock on wood we three will be back on STO in less than a week. I'd be willing to wait a month, however, if it meant the problem was solved and we three were back on STO again.
...and maybe having the issue being spoke about in two area will get some attention from Tech Support.
@Admin
@Tech
I use a NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 for my system, which is up to date on drivers, etc.
I'm not buying a new one until I build a new computer later in the year, but the game settings have done this before in previous updates, so not surprised...
...just upset that now that I have time to play a lot... I can't.
I figure three of us suffering this problem (or set of problems) is better than just one. I'll tell ya: Thursday and Friday felt awfully alone for me. I couldn't find *any* report of *any* kind on the Internet (not just at STO's website), except from 2018 and earlier. I thought it must be unique to me, that there was something currently wrong with my computer and/or its software, and no idea how to fix it. Then Jim posted his problem on this website. I felt better; I wasn't so alone anymore. And then you posted. Granted, I don't want *any* STO player to suffer this problem, but, as you said, maybe this will get Cryptic's attention. I really really hope so. Usually there's a message from Cryptic saying basically, "We're aware of the problem and we're doing everything we can to fix it." I've been looking for that, and finding nothing. Not here, not on Twitter, not on Reddit.
I really want to be back playing with my two (or three) KDF-allied Romulans, my two KDF characters (Orion and Ferasan), as well my Fed characters. And my in-game friends are probably wondering, "Where in the world did so-and-so go? He's usually on here at least several hours every day." Well, I can't tell them anything. I don't have their email addresses (I think I gave one of them my email address prior to Thursday afternoon). At least I'll be able to post (once Arc lets me; my STO account is at least a few months old, but that's via the launcher, not here at STO's website) five single-spaced pages for possible raw material to help Cryptic create a tutorial and several episodes for the Star Trek: Enterprise era ... granted it's incomplete, but it was the best I could do. I'm not really good at sci-fi writing, or story-plotting for that matter.
EVERY time I've logged in here today, it thinks I'm on a different system, so have to then go to my email for the security code it sends out.
...damn, we should receive a bunch of free keys for this BS
... once we can log into the game and use them. Sheeesh!
Btw, I've also had Arc (after I reinstalled it) say that I needed to check email and type in the code given to me. That didn't fix the computer freezing during patching of STO, though. So that *might* not be the problem. I think it's something that was affected by the patched software (there were alot of fixes in the patch notes, after all). A line or two of code being changed in one area of a very very complicated program can easily break something else elsewhere in it. It's not the first time it's happened; it's just the first time the "break" has blocked me from STO for this long. In the past, Cryptic has usually posted a message on the website (as well as on Twitter) that there's a problem and they're looking into it. And within a day or two (a week at most), they find the problem and a way to solve it. But this time there's nothing from Cryptic. Maybe I just need to be patient (more than I've already been). Not easy to do, but I'll do my best.
I think I can understand now why Kirk was so eager to get back on the bridge of the Enterprise in ST:TMP. I don't think he was obsessed or addicted as Dr. McCoy thought he might be; I think Kirk was simply happier on the Enterprise's bridge than he ever was sitting behind a desk at Starfleet. And it's possible that the ship was also happier when he was aboard again. They belonged together.
Ohw no man you got me wrong, i was just trying to help you out. I am not suffering from the same problems and can log in game just fine It is strange more players are starting to experiencing this in a similar maner, that would suggest it is an game problem and not hardware as i suspected at first. I do hope they take a look into this soon tho, you guys need it sorted and get back in the game asap.
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> Oh no man you got me wrong, i was just trying to help you out. I am not suffering from the same problems and can log in game just fine :) It is strange more players are starting to experiencing this in a similar manner, that would suggest it is an game problem and not hardware as i suspected at first. I do hope they take a look into this soon tho, you guys need it sorted and get back in the game asap.
Jim: I misunderstood, then. My apologies. I had hoped that with three suffering, it would get more attention than two suffering would. Then it's just two of us, Coachles and me.
For me, logging-in works fine ... freezing problem doesn't occur until STO starts patching. There's no warning or any specific percentage when my computer freezes. It can happen at any moment. I just wish it would at least reach the "CRYPTIC Loading ..." screen, if not all the way to the choose-your-character screen. I would even prefer lag and rubber-banding to being locked out of STO.
I'll just keep hoping, praying, and dreaming that STO will work for me again someday. Watching STO videos on YouTube is okay, but just not the same as playing it myself. "Like postcards from heaven ... nothing like the real thing," as someone once said.
First find - error 31
found 1 way to fix it in the option menu of the launcher unclick (on demand patching)
that worked for me.
Second find - Looks like a corrupted HOGG file.
Relaunch the STO launcher, and under "options", select "force verify", then log in and wait for the verification process to complete (about 5-10 minutes depending on your system).
My suggestion from here, turn on demand patching off. Keep it off and run a Force Verify. Do not turn on on demand patching, there is no real need for it and by the time the game stops running because of on demand patching is off you can always fix it by force verify
I'm out of ideas, short of having to reinstall Win7 all over again, which I really don't want to do. Everything else is working, after all. I guess I'll try again after Thursday's patch. Maybe something in that patch will fix what Coachles and I've been suffering through.
After re reading the previous posts i noticed you did an register repair that seemed to help a little. That could mean it is a registry problem, Try to deinstal sto and everything cryptic/pwe related including an manual search trough the registry, make sure to remove every bit of sto related there then reboot the comp to make sure the registry files are saved then after reboot try an reinstall of sto. It may be an slight chance but it might save you from reinstalling windows and still getting the game back to work.
Honestly if that does not work i do not see any other way then to reinstall win 7 due too an faulty registry, everything including that error code does suggest it is deep enough as a fault so might be just as wel related to an faulty registry.
*ps* pls do take care when messing around in the registry files manually, 1 wrong move and you end up being even worse of then just the loss of playing sto*
The fact that STO is the only program that isn't working puzzles me. And, more specifically, out of three MMORPGs, STO is the only one that isn't working. Which really puzzles me.
I checked NVidia's driver update. It's up to date. I used Glary Utilities to check to see if any other drivers aren't up to date. All the drivers are up to date. (I don't use Win7 to update drivers; I've heard that it tends to install its own - less effective - drivers.)
I agree that something is seriously broken. It's possible that Wednesday's Windows Update messed up something deep inside Windows 7's code. Microsoft has admitted since that update that there is a network-related (and authentication-related, but this hasn't affected me) problem which they are trying to solve as soon as they can. Which is why I've been in no hurry to reinstall Win7. I want to wait and see what Microsoft's update fix does first. If it solves the problem, then I don't need to reinstall Win7. But would a network-related problem only affect STO and nothing else? And why would patching STO cause the entire OS to freeze so that I need to do a hard shutdown and reboot? Something here - pardon the pun - doesn't compute.
Btw, I don't directly (i.e., manually) mess with Windows registry. That's like playing with fire or juggling with nitro glycerin. I'd rather let a program like Glary Utilities do it for me; it seems to know what it's doing.
At least the rest of the software on the computer (including Win7) is working fine, as far as I can tell. And the hard drive doesn't seem to be complaining about all the hard-shutdowns and reboots ... yet.
Sorry for the lengthy messages, but figured too much information about my end of things would be more helpful to you (and any devs reading your and my messages).
And last, but not least: Thank you so much for your continued sympathy and suggestions. I just wish that was all I needed to get STO launcher/patcher back up and running again. If it were, I'd be over the moon with happiness. Once I'm back in STO, I will try to find some way to add you to my friends list. You've more than earned it.
I'm beginning to suspect that you probably are correct. That somewhere deep in the bowels of Win7 code is the problem that's plaguing me and preventing me from patching and playing STO. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that problem is. There are two other files downloaded as part of last Wednesday's Win7 update. I did not uninstall them. I don't know if I can do so safely and have the computer completely reboot back to desktop without freezing.
So I'm back to square one or wherever I was. And feeling more frustrated (not angry, just unhappy and somewhat helpless).
I don't know what I can do now, short of reinstalling Win7 (I have the disks that the computer came with; one disk for the OS, the other disk for the drivers).
Got a magic wand I can borrow?
Thing with registry coding is that it is really iffy and programs as that glary thingy do not always get deep enough to get it fixed. That is why i said todo it manualy, and yes that is an dangerous proces but could have fixed it none the less. Thankfully that is redundant for now as you reinstalled and it fixed it all
Now be smart, when you can get back into game and have done all the updates and stuff installed what you need to be on the computer. Right away do an backup if possibly. You then have a backup of the computer in its healthiest and working state and then when ever this problem shows again you simply place back the back up no reinstalling needed
As for my support that is an small thing to me honestly, as gamer i can totally relate to how it feels when you can not get into the game you play on a daily basis and have had my fair share of mistakes, might as wel share my knowledge right ^_^ as for reaching me in game that is no probs at all, i am not in game atm but will be somewhat later today you should then be able to find me at jimduval#7537: . For now i wish you happy gaming and am sure we will meet again