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Aiko edited this page Jan 16, 2021 · 13 revisions

Welcome to the AlbianWarpClient wiki!

This page contains Information on how to install/update/troubleshoot AlbianWarp.

Remember that this is extremely new and extremely buggy! Download and run this stuff at your own risk. Backup important files and things. We're all learning how to make this work together and there are bound to be some casualties along the way.

Currently, the Albian Warp Client is a Windows application. If you are running Creatures Exodus/Docking Station on anything other than Windows, you will probably not be able to run the client.

To Get Started

  1. Join the #albianwarp channel on the CAOS Coding Cave discord. You are probably going to run into a bunch of problems/bugs along the way and we will be able to help you out there. You'll also want to receive updates as newer versions are being released all the time.

  2. Make an account here. The email address field is just a placeholder and is not actually used. If you forget your password, you will have to make a new account (accounts will likely be reset between major releases anyway, so don't worry too much about that).

  3. Download the latest client directly from the Releases page or get it from the Client Download Page of the Gameserver.

    • There is both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version available for the client, however, some have reported issues with the 32-bit version. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may not be able to play just yet, but we would greatly appreciate you testing the 32-bit client anyway and reporting the errors you encounter. ("Entry Point Not Found" is a common one on older systems, sometimes solved by running all your Windows Updates or just downloading this patch.)

  4. Extract the contents of the zipfile into your DS game directory (or any directory you want, so long as you don't forget where it is).

  5. Open the "albianwarp.cfg" in notepad or the text editor of your choice, and change the following lines:

    • Remove the # in front of #username and #password and set them to equal your username and password that you signed up with in step 2. Example: username = Aiko and password = Iamnotgonnaputmyactualpasswordhereobviously
    • Remove the # in front of #my_creatures_directory and set it to equal your My Creatures directory. Example: my_creatures_directory = C:\Users\Aiko\Documents\Creatures\Docking Station\My Creatures
    • Remove the # in front of #ds_directory and set it to equal your Docking Station game directory. Example: ds_directory = C:\Users\Aiko\Documents\Creatures\Docking Station
    • Leave everything else the way it is, and save your changes. Your result will be something like this:Example Config File

  6. Download the required bootstrap modifications from here. Follow the instructions on this page to install.

  7. It's time to launch! Make sure your DS client is open and that you've created and loaded a new world. Now we're going to launch the Albian Warp Client.

    • If you just double-click the .exe file, the window will close when the program is finished running, meaning you're never going to actually see client-crashing errors if this happens. The best way to ensure that you see everything that you need to see is to launch the client from the command line or PowerShell.
    • The easiest way to do this is to go into your Docking Station directory, hold SHIFT, and right click anywhere in the white-space (just not on the name of any particular file). You should see the option to "Open PowerShell Here" or "open command line" or something similar. Click that. Context Menu showing how to open PowerShell
    • Now, to open the client, type .\AlbianWarpPythonClient.exe into the command-line and press enter. (It's often easier to just type the first few characters, like .\A and then press TAB a couple times until you see the full name of the client. Tab completion is delightful!
    • If, you get an "Entry Point Not Found" error, you may need to update your Windows CRT (Update available Here). This error is especially common if you are running an older version of Windows or a VM that hasn't been fully updated.
    • Your virus scan might treat the Albian Warp Client as suspicious or harmful. This seems to be an unfortunate side effect of many applications compiled with pyInstaller, as this issue details. There is not a fix for this currently, but it is one of many issues being investigated and hopefully corrected before a public release.

  8. If you set your username and password correctly in the config file, running the client should log you right in. If your login info is not set up correctly, or if the server is down, the client will prompt you for your username and password. Hopefully everything works and you get that green 'online' light!

  9. To gather useful information, make sure you keep autokill off and post any errors you encounter to the #albianwarp channel along with exactly what was going on when the error occurred. Keep an eye on the Client window for errors as well.

  10. Have fun feeling like it's 2001 all over again! Well, a bunch of bugs and crashes not withstanding.

  11. Keep an eye on the Project Board and see what we're working on next! Feel free to suggest future features and modifications, or even contribute yourself!

Known Issues

  • The Albian Warp Client is not currently compatible with other external applications that talk to the game, such as the CAOS tool, the Biochemistry Set, the CAOS Debugger, and the inject portion of the Genetics Kit. If you use one of these programs to communicate with the game while Albian Warp is running, the client will probably crash or throw a Mutex Error. These sorts of errors can only be resolved by closing and re-opening your Docking Station engine to reset the Shared Memory Interface. (see Issue)
  • The Who's Wanted Register is not terribly accurate right now. This means online and offline messages that cause portals to light up/fade, users to exits the chatroom, and notifications to be sent don't always go off properly. (see Issue)
  • Creatures sit in the My Creatures folder for a while before warping in sometimes (see Issue)
  • Automatic deletion of sent creature files does not always work. You might need to regularly clear out your My Creatures folder if seeing all those errors in the client window gets annoying.
  • Creatures sometimes try to warp in more than once (probably the same problem as the above)
  • If you leave your screen in the comms rooms on the Contacts Screen, it can slow the game down. Make sure you're switched to the agent injector or some other screen before leaving the comms room!
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