Troubleshooting

Reconnecting to your game session

If you are playing Triplejack and unexpectedly lose your connection, due to it becoming unresponsive, or a “server connection failed” message, you may be able to reconnect to your game session, even if you are actively in a game. However, you will need to log in quickly, as the server will periodically clear out “idle” connections. To increase the chances you will be able to reconnect, DO NOT close your existing Triplejack session yet. Instead, open a second browser window, and log into Triplejack using that new window. Do not close the original browser window until the new window has successfully reconnected to the *room* you were playing in. Note that you can have multiple copies of your account logged into Triplejack at once, but only one account in a room, so it is necessary to go into your room (not the lounge) to reconnect your game session.

Troubleshooting an unstable connection

If you are able to connect to Triplejack, but are having trouble maintaining your connection, a “ping” test might identify where a problem is. A ping test will repeatedly send tiny “are you there?” messages to the server, and record how many were successful, how many failed, and how long each response took.

1. Open up a command prompt. (Windows: Choose Start Menu → Programs → Accessories → Command Prompt)

2. Start the ping test (Windows: Type “ping -t game.triplejack.com” and hit enter)

3. Let the ping test run for several minutes, noting if some of the requests time out.

4. Stop the test by pressing Ctrl-C. It will show a summary of the test, including what percent of the pings failed.

If you are showing packet loss (in other words, failed pings), there is a problem in the network communications between your computer and the Triplejack server. To identify if there is also a network problem between your computer and other servers on the internet, you can re-run the ping test (step 2) using another website address, such as “google.com” or “yahoo.com” instead of “game.triplejack.com”. If you are showing packet loss to more than one server, it may indicate a general problem with your Internet service rather than something specific to Triplejack.

Troubleshooting “Lag”

There are many things that can cause the triplejack game to appear slow. Here are some of the common causes:

• High local network usage

Downloading large or a large number of files can tax your network, forcing Triplejack to wait for other network traffic. Particularly if you or someone else on the same network is using a BitTorrent client (like μTorrent, Vuze or Xunlei), Triplejack may appear slow.

• High network latency

Run the ping test as shown in Troubleshooting an unstable connection. If the ping times are greater than 250ms, then the path between your computer and the triplejack servers is a slow one. A ping time of greater than 500ms will cause a noticeable difference in gameplay. The primary causes of network latency are: a complex network setup, modem connections, and physical distance. Often a user may have more than one of these issues, all of which add up to a high ping time.

If your connection goes through a large number of routers on the way to the internet (for example, a wireless router to another router to a DSL modem) the DNS and firewall processing at each step could be slowing down your connection. Try simplifying your network setup.

If you are connecting through a modem, you will experience lag due to analog to digital signal conversions. If possible, switching to a broadband connection will reduce your ping time.

From major cities, we don't often see much latency even if you are on the other side of the world from the Triplejack servers. However, if you are both in a rural area and far from the servers, this may add to your ping time. The Triplejack servers are located in Texas, USA. Since most people don't want to live inside our server farm (it's kind of noisy), try as many of the other troubleshooting steps as you can to speed things up.

• Missing video drivers

Some computers may not have the video drivers for the installed hardware or may have outdated drivers. If 'video driver' doesn't mean anything to you, you may want to try a program like Driver Magician, Driver Detective or Driver Genius. These are all commercial programs (they cost around $40), but you can use them to determine what drivers you need without purchasing any of them. Once you know the name of the driver you need, you can find it with google instead of buying the driver program.

• High computer load

If you are running lots of programs at once or have a large number of browser tabs open these can cause the game to slow down. If your anti-virus program starts scanning your whole hard drive while you are playing, you may notice that Flash cannot draw as many frames per second as normal. Try closing any programs and browser tabs that you are not using. You can also measure your CPU performance. If you have java installed, this applet will give you an idea of how much processing power you have available, Plasma Benchmark. If you don't get at least 30 frames per second (the number shown on top of the image the applet draws), then you probably don't have enough CPU available.