Frequently Asked Questions:

1. The chat doesn't work, at all.
2. Chat text doesn't scroll: how can I fix this?
3. Chat crashes my browser. Can you fix it?
4. What special commands are available?
5. Can I turn off chat to make the game faster?
6. Is the chat server an ircd?
7. Can you add this new feature?

1. Q: The chat doesn't work, at all.

   A: If you see an error message like SocketException, you are probably firewalled, in which case you need to talk to your admin. Other errors like ConnectException, UnknownHostException, NoRouteToHostException, etc. indicate a similar problem on your end. (I am told that "parental controls" offered by some ISPs can also cause this behavior.)

   If you see nothing at all, your browser doesn't know how to run java applets. Go to

   www.java.com

   And click Get It Now. After the new plugin is installed, close all your browser windows and restart.

   ...If that doesn't work, download a modern browser like Netscape 7. :P

   
   

2. Q: Chat text doesn't scroll: how can I fix this?

   A: Early releases of the 5.0 version of the Java runtime caused this bug. 5.0 Update 2 or later should be fine; get the latest from the above link.

   
   

3. Q: Chat crashes my browser. Can you fix it?

   A: No. This is a bug in your browser and/or JVM. This is not due to a bug in the Chat Blender applet. It seems that IE with the MS VM is particularly crash-prone; see the first question for how to get the latest VM.

   
   

4. Q: What special commands are available?

   A: Type "/help", without the quotes, to get the most up-to-date list.

   
   

5. Q: Can I turn off chat to make the game faster?

   A: Turning off chat does not make the game faster. The chat applet is a one-time download of 11kB (3 seconds to download with a 33kbps modem). It may appear slowly due to the overhead of starting the java runtime environment, particularly on older computers, but again, this only occurs once per session.

   A better question would be, "Is there a way to speed up the first page load after I login?" And the answer is definitely, by loading www.carnageblender.com/main.tcl instead of simply /. This avoids loading and rendering the main page twice.

   Finally, yes, you can turn off Chat if you've read all this and you still want it off. (Perhaps you are firewalled so Chat does nothing for you besides waste your time dragging the chat frame out of your way.) Have at it in Settings.

   
   

6. Q: Is the chat server an ircd?

   A: No. It is an NFC Chat daemon (on port 7007, for the curious). This lets us make chat much more secure than it could be with IRC, as well as features like persistent ignore and chatmail that would be impossible with a service like IRC whose protocol hasn't changed substantially since the early 90's.

   
   

7. Q: Can you add this new feature?

   A: Probably not. But hey, the source is linked right above this. You can make your own client that does anything you want. Hey, if it really is a rockin' idea, I'll even port it back to mine. :)