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| Can't play Hannah and the Pirate Caves? Here's how to fix it. Saturday, July 3, 2010 5:16 pm — Guide posted by Livio |
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LEAVING ALL OF THIS UP FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSE, BUT REALLY YOU CAN IGNORE ALL OF THIS AND JUST USE FLASHPOINT TO PLAY HATPC. SEE THIS POST IF YOU WANT MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
Once again, I'm rewriting an existing guide. Or rather, instead of making a "How to open" guide, I'm making one solely focused on the problems you can face when trying to play Hannah and the Pirate Caves (HATPC). I designed this guide like a flowchart to make it easier and faster to work through.
STEP ONE: Try Again
Just open and close the game window until it finally works. If it still doesn't work after about three tries, move on to the next step.
STEP TWO: DGS Error?
If you get a DGS Error, it is most likely the fault of neopets.com. Although, this theory has never been proven. Wait a few hours or a day, and if you still get the error, move on to step three.
STEP THREE: Which browser are you using?
HATPC is a very old Shockwave game, so it does not work properly in all browsers anymore. We find that HATPC works best in Google Chrome (download: here) and Apple's Safari (download: here).
If you are currently using a different browser, that may be the reason why you cannot play HATPC. Download either Chrome or Safari, then try opening HATPC from one of those browsers by clicking here. If you still can't play, move on to step four.
Side note: If you do not want to change the browser that you normally use, you may be interested in some added convenience in another of my guides, which teaches you how to create a desktop shortcut that will open HATPC from any browser.
STEP FOUR: Do you have the latest version of Shockwave Player?
http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/
Visit the above link and download the latest version of shockwave. Beware of any offers to download a free toolbar or security scan. I suspect them to be safe, since they are from Adobe, but they are an annoyance.
Try opening HATPC again, by clicking here. If still nothing, go to step five.
STEP FIVE: Try visiting the game files directly
Click here: http://swf.neopets.com/games/g349_v9_99392.dcr
This is known to work in every browser except Internet Explorer 9.
If it still doesn't work, see the next step.
STEP SIX: Try clearing your browser's cache
Your browser saves a cache for many web pages in its attempt to cut back on loading times. Some of our users have found that clearing their cache enables them to play HATPC again.
To clear your cache in Chrome, click on the wrench icon at the top-right corner of the screen. Then click on "Options". An Options window will open up. Click on the tab called "Under the Hood". Right under the "Privacy" heading, click on the button that says "Clear Browsing Data...". Another window will open. In this window, uncheck everything except for "Empty the cache". Under "Clear data from this period:", select "Everything". And finally, click the button "Clear browsing data".
To clear your cache in Safari, click on the gear icon at the top-right corner of the screen, and click on "Reset Safari...". A window will open. uncheck everything except for "Empty the cache". Then hit the "Reset" button.
Try opening HATPC here.
If it still doesn't work, you can also try deleting all other forms of browsing data, and this usually works for most people.
Finally, if it still doesn't work, try clearing it again! Surprisingly this does make a difference quite often.
If even that doesn't work, move onto the next step.
STEP SEVEN: Maybe it's not your fault
There have been times in the past when HATPC wouldn't work for anyone because something would go wrong with neopets.com's game servers. This is similar to the DGS Error problem in Step Two, but neopets is clever, always finding better ways of screwing up HATPC. While in the past, the game used to go down occasionally, it seems very rare these days. However, the possibility is still there. To make sure if something is only happening to you, try asking other Interguild members if they are having any difficulties opening HATPC. If they are having the same problems as you, then it's possible that something's temporarily gone wrong with the game.
STEP EIGHT: Try downloading someone else's cache
We've now moved on to a daring step. We will now attempt to get HATPC to work for you by downloading almost
This method was developed when I noticed that there was something in my cache that allowed HATPC to work for me, and when the cache was cleared, it no longer worked. Luckily, I saved a backup of my cache, and I tried to find out what file was in there that was allowing HATPC to work. However, because I did not know what I was doing, removing things from the cache made it very unstable, as Chrome would sense errors and automatically change things to fix them. Therefore, I was not able to reduce the file size of the overall cache that you must download. However, so far this method has managed to fix HATPC for two people: jellsprout and Yaya.
Also, I am sorry I cannot provide any support for non-Windows users.
Here are the steps to successfully replace your cache with mine:
- If on Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to:
C:Users[USERNAME]AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser DataDefault
If on Windows XP, go to:
C
ocuments and Settings[USERNAME]Local SettingsApplication DataGoogleChromeUser DataDefault
The [USERNAME] represents the name of the user that you are currently logged into on your computer. There will be a folder named after that user name.
If you are having trouble finding some of these folder, it may be because they are hidden. Click on the Start menu at the very bottom-left corner of the screen and type in "folder options" into the search. Click on the "Folder Options" program that comes up. Click on the "View" tab, then look under the group of options under "Hidden files and folder" and select the option to "Show hidden files and folders". Now try again to find the above folder locations. - Delete the following folders entirely:
Cache
Media Cache
(if you don't want to lose your caches, for whatever reason, you may want to just rename those folders in case you want to keep a backup). - Open this: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0By4BC80t6oOoNzQ5YjZhNzctNWY1NS00M2ZmLWEzNWYtNjk3NGI2Njk3YjY4&hl=en&authkey=CN3A8PAK
- Take the two folders inside that zip file and extract them to your "Default" folder, mentioned in the first step. Make sure that the Cache and Media Cache folders within the zip file are placed directly into the Default folder. You do not want them to be inside a new folder (which may be automatically called "ChromeHATPCcache").
If this doesn't work, try going through this step again, but instead use this cache: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0By4BC80t6oOoNzlkNGIzMjktMWUwZC00YTgyLWJiOTUtNjk5YzMyMjAxYTZh&hl=en
Be aware that this file is nearly 290 MB.
STEP NINE: Ask for help
If you still can't get HATPC to work, just post a comment below. Try explaining in detail what happens when you try to load the game, and I or some other members will try to figure out what's wrong.
User Comments (290)
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
I might change some things to keep my identity private. EDIT: i've gotten to the local/google part but then i don't see any of the rest 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| Isa | ||
| No. I'm an octopus. Age: 31 Karma: 686 Posts: 7833 Gender: Male Location: Uppsala, Sweden - GMT +1 pm | email |
Quote: If you are having trouble finding some of these folder, it may be because they are hidden. Click on the Start menu at the very bottom-left corner of the screen and type in "folder options" into the search. Click on the "Folder Options" program that comes up. Click on the "View" tab, then look under the group of options under "Hidden files and folder" and select the option to "Show hidden files and folders". Now try again to find the above folder locations. | |
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
tried that. 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| Isa | ||
| No. I'm an octopus. Age: 31 Karma: 686 Posts: 7833 Gender: Male Location: Uppsala, Sweden - GMT +1 pm | email |
I think we need a screen shot to advance from here. | |
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
OMG IT STARTED WORKING ALL OF A SUDDEN 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
You're using crome, right? 'Cause if you aren't, that could explain why you're not seeing a crome folder.... | |
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
I was using chrome. 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| branm2 | ||
Age: 34 Karma: 0 Posts: 1 Gender: Female pm | email |
Im using google chrome and when i try to play hannah and the pirate caves this error comes up this shockwave movie has errors that have caused playback problems. please contact the author of this content regarding this problem. shockwave is unable to continue. How do I fix it? | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
Whoa I'm getting it too. It seems to be caused by the newest version of shockwave. Right now it seems like we need to download an older version of shockwave, but Adobe doesn't offer that feature. However, there are other sites that distribute older versions, such as: http://www.oldapps.com/shockwave.php http://www.oldversion.com/Adobe_Shockwave.html Can someone try this out and see if it works? I don't really have time to mess with this now. | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
Usually, when you try to play a shockwave game without the most recent version of shockwave, you'll be told to update before being able to play. However, when I tried to play HATPC just now, I wasn't pressed to download anything... | |
| jellsprout | ||
| Lord of Sprout Tower Karma: -2147482799 Posts: 6445 Gender: Male pm | email |
The game was blocked for me because I didn't have the latest update to Shockwave, but I could refuse the warning and still play. Spoiler: | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
When I tried to open HATPC last night, Chrome started to automatically download the latest version of Shockwave. It was after the download that it then tried to continue loading HATPC, and that's when I got the error. | |
| Sefro | ||
Karma: 313 Posts: 1136 Gender: Male Location: Canada pm | email |
I can still play, and I think I have the latest update. I'm not sure on that, though. Did you try downloading your old cache, Livio? EDIT: Never mind, I have 11.5.9.615. Didn't prompt me to get the new one either, though. | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
Can you turn off that kind of automatic download? Though, it could still be the cache. It might be looking for HATPC somewhere else in your cache now, because you have a different version of shockwave? IDK. Somebody try getting HATPC working on the most recent version, and then upload your cache, lol. | |
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
Hey guys. I found out another way that got it working for me. I opened up 3 games of neopets' dice escape. after that, i reloaded hatpc and it worked! if hatpc doesn't work for you, try it so we can add to the list! 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| krotomo | ||
| The Shepherd Age: 23 Karma: 249 Posts: 4066 Gender: Male Location: My chair pm | email |
Lol how did you even find that out? So you just happened to open 3 games of dice escape then went on hatpc? | |
| soccerboy13542 | ||
| ~*~Soccer~*~ Karma: 450 Posts: 4466 Gender: Male Location: 1945 pm | email |
Well HatPC wasn't working for me and so i went to dice escape to see if other shockwave games worked and i opened one. and i opened another. and another. i figure since that was the only thing i did during the time that hatpc all of a sudden worked, then it must have been that. 'Livio' said: You know, I was thinking of getting an internship at Microsoft, but I'm not sure I want their lameness to rub off on me. | |
| DeathBunni X | ||
| Eww, school. Age: 26 Karma: 87 Posts: 690 Gender: Female Location: Midwest pm | email |
Soccerboy's dice escape thing actually worked for me too.  | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
hey HATPC works for me again. And no need to escape dice. | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
Argh! HATPC issues have returned! So Chrome has been turning to the dark side lately. First it breaks our online members box, then it starts doing some crazy stuff with our hyperlinks, and now it's cutting off HATPC from inside the game window  Fortunately, Chrome is so messed up that it actually lets me resize the HATPC window (what?). However, when you start playing the cave, the level still gets cut off, hiding parts of the cave to the bottom and to the right of the screen. So I start to see if HATPC works in any other browsers. For Opera and Firefox, HATPC doesn't even load; it's just a black screen. I got hopeful when HATPC actually loaded in IE, but then when I tried to play a level, it froze on the Jump-To-Start screen. BUT, it works in Safari, which is good news. I guess now would be a good time to bring back my HATPC desktop shortcut... | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
It works just fine for me in IE7. If it ever gets cleared my cache, there's a chance I'll get a shockwave error if I try to reload it, though. Yeah everybody go download old versions of IE? | |
| Silver | ||
Karma: 121 Posts: 3581 Gender: Female pm | email |
I don't get what problem you're having. HATPC is absolutely fine for me - no window cuts, no random freezing, just the bug-free experience. (If you want to get into details, I'm using Google Chrome on my Windows XP computer). | |
| jellsprout | ||
| Lord of Sprout Tower Karma: -2147482799 Posts: 6445 Gender: Male pm | email |
Apparently there is no Shockwave plug-in available for Linux builds, so HatPC won't work on Ubuntu anyway. I'll have to try it on the seven browsers I currently have installed on my Windows 7 boot later. Edit: I have tried Chrome, Opera, Avant and Konqueror. Chrome and Konqueror both want me to update my Shockwave, but I get an error when I try to do so, Opera doesn't even load anything, but Avant works perfectly. It automatically installed the required Shockwave plug-in and then I could play it just normally. It did appear to play quite a bit faster than I remember, but I don't know if that is for everyone. Spoiler: | |
| Yaya | ||
Age: 29 Karma: 747 Posts: 5367 Location: Ohio (US) pm | email |
For once having an outdated, crappy version of IE comes in handy. Score! Well, actually the window never gets cut off, but the game doesn't always load. Win/lose.  COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please. Give me +karma. Give me +karma. | |
| jellsprout | ||
| Lord of Sprout Tower Karma: -2147482799 Posts: 6445 Gender: Male pm | email |
As I said in my previous post, try Avant Browser. It works for me. Spoiler: | |
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