BoardSpace needs Java!
If the applet
doesn't appear at all, this is the first problem to
solve. Our games require a Java-enabled browser. Most modern
browsers support Java, but some installations don't automatically
include java.
The major causes of "no java" in browsers are:
- If java is not installed, you need to download
it. Or if installed, it might be an old version.
Boardspace is designed to run with any modern version of java, but
current security concerns make running old versions of java
problematic, at best.
- On all browsers, it is possible to disable
Java in the browser's preferences, and sometimes the default is to be
disabled, and not all installations include java by default. If your
browser should be new enough to include java, check that java
is enabled in your browser preferences. For
reasons best known to the developers, this seems to be different in
every version of every browser. Java.com has instructions
where to find the java
enable options for most browsers.
- Security measures may require you to grant permission for
java to run separately for each applet or each site. Use the
"activate all" option for Boardspace applets. Some confused browsers
display a small red icon next to the URL line instead of a
pop-up.
Click on it and
select "activate all"
- If all else fails, uninstall all versions of java your
machine thinks are installed and reinstall just the latest.
Two sites that will help you test and diagnose java on your browser are
Java.com
and Fitwise.com
Firewalls, Routers, Ports and Proxies, Lost Connections
If you get some kind of
"can't connect" message in the lobby chat area:
The Java applet must be able to open an outgoing tcp connection on port 2255. Most
firewalls and routers are configured allow this; but some institutions
(work, school) and some personal firewall products (blackice, zone
alarm) may block this port. If the applet window comes up,
but can't connect to the server, look for problems with port
2255. The applet will also fail to connect if it was loaded
from some place other than Boardspace.net, which could be a side effect
of some browser proxy setups.
If you get
the message rcv 221 errConnection error then you
have successfully connected to the server, but your connection has been
rejected. The most likely cause of this is that you
accidentally connected to the server without going through the login
procedure. This can happen if you use your browser's back button, or if
your browser has cached the login page (and so didn't to chat with the
server about your login). Check your browser cache settings.
If you lose connection in
mid-game: don't panic, you can reconnect and rejoin the
game. This can happen for a variety of reasons, most of which
are impossible to predict or control. Watch the little
spinner 
located next to your clock (and your opponents clock). The
little arrow should change position at least every 10 seconds or so,
and if it has not changed position recently, the color starts fading
from green to red. After 2 minutes of no activity a timeout
will occur and you can try to reconnect.
Slow connections: Once the applet is
downloaded, the bandwidth required to maintain the lobby and a game is
very modest, and any type of internet connection should work
fine. One problem we have seen a few times is that
firewalls such as Zone Alarm interfere with the flow of data to the
server without completely blocking it. We don't know why, but disabling
Zone Alarm fixes the problem. A test for this condition is to
switch the type of a game room, say from "Game Room" to "Unranked
Room". The changeover should happen very fast, within a
second. If there is more that a very brief lag, look for this
kind of networking problem.
If you successfully play games, but scoring
the game fails: To score games properly, the applet must
be able to make HTTP requests on either port 80 or port 4321. Port
80 is normally used by browsers, so it is usually open, but some sites
enforce the use of a http proxy server by blocking port 80.
Scoring a game fails occasionally if the server is unusually busy, or
just due to random internet glitches. If port 80 is
permanently blocked, try referring to boardspace.net as https://www.boarspace.net:4321/
Browsers, Platforms and Java Versions
The Java applet that runs the game works in any browser that supports
Java, but not all browsers or platforms are created equal. Be
advised that running old, unpatched versions of browsers and/or java is
considered dangerous.
Windows (any version)
Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE all
work.
Macintosh
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all
work
Linux
Relatively few of our players use Linux
, the only general statement we can make is that the most current
combinations work ok.
Old
Java Versions
Boardspace works
with Java
version 1.4.2 and greater, which is really old.
No bleeding edge features are required. However, security
patches may require you to load a newer version of java.
