It takes a while (10 seconds to a minute depending on your
hardware and network connection) to load the applet. You should be
seeing descriptive messages at the buttom of your Web browser
window while the applet is loading.
If the applet doesn't seem to be loading, and you see the
text string "***Java-capable browser required***", then you aren't
running a Web browser that understands Java.
I suggest getting the
Netscape Navigator.
Does your Web browser support Java 1.0 beta/final API?
If you are running Sun's HotJava browser, it currently only supports
1.0 alpha API, which is incompatible with IMS. A future version
of HotJava that supports 1.0 final API will be released soon by
Sun Microsystems. Meanwhile, you
can get the
Netscape Navigator.
Is your Web browser configured correctly for Java?
Try running some other Java applets at the
Gamelan site.
Make sure you didn't turn Java off as a security measure.
Also make sure you installed the Java class library file that comes
with your browser.
I press "Connect NOW!", but it doesn't give me the login
window, and the button changes to "Connect again".
Are you behind a firewall? Some Web browsers don't work well
behind a firewall. Your system administrator might also have
configured the firewall to disallow Java class files through. Check
with your system administrators.
Is your local DNS (Domain Name Server) configured correctly
to recognize the name of the server machine? To see this, try to
telnet to the server machine and see if you can connect. If
your system cannot recognize the hostname, contact your system
administrator.
Perhaps the server is down at this moment. Try again later!
Bring up the "Java Console" window (or the equivalent) on your
browser. Do you see error messages? Some error messages exactly
describe problems mentioned above. If you think you see weird error
messages, please report them along with your machine type, OS version,
and name of the web browser you use.
I press "Connect NOW!" and login, but the desktop window
immediately goes away.
Most likely there has been a server upgrade since you last connected.
Try reloading this page. This will reload the applet and you should
have no more problems. For some Web browsers however, applet code
are cached, and they are persistent unless you clear the entire
disk cache, or restart the browser altogether.
What software do I need to play?
You need a Web browser that supports 1.0 final Java API.
For example, you can get the
Netscape Navigator.
Note that Sun's HotJava browser only handles 1.0 alpha API,
therefore it is not compatible.
You can also run appletviewer in Sun's
JDK 1.0.
However, you won't be able to see the contents of this page.
I can't see all the buttons on my screen, what's wrong?
Most likely you are running at small screen size. The IMS client
in its default configuration needs 1024x768 pixels to run comfortably.
You can however try to configure your client by using smaller fonts,
or fewer rows and columns for the player list, table list, or message
windows. You can do these from the Preferences menu. After
you get a comfortable configuration, don't forget to save it on the
server so you don't have to do the whole thing all over again the
next time you login!