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« Blogs Index < Game Guides < HATPC Guides
« Livio's Blog

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). Many users on this site prefer to use Chrome for HATPC. EDIT: Chrome has betrayed us. Use Safari.

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 290 MB 755 KB of my own cache so that HATPC will always work for you. However, this cache is for Google Chrome only, so if you do not have it, download it here. However, Chrome must be closed while you follow these steps.

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:
  1. If on Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to:
    C:Users[USERNAME]AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser DataDefault

    If on Windows XP, go to:
    Cocuments 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.

  2. 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).

  3. Open this: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0By4BC80t6oOoNzQ5YjZhNzctNWY1NS00M2ZmLWEzNWYtNjk3NGI2Njk3YjY4&hl=en&authkey=CN3A8PAK

  4. 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").
Now that you have successfully replaced your cache, try to play HATPC here. If you have any problems with this complicated step, please ask for help in the comments below.

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.
[?] Karma: +2
User Comments (290)
« Forum Index < The Hannah and the Pirate Caves Board
«Previous | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, . . . 10, 11, 12 | Next»

FlashMarsh
[?] Karma: 0 | Quote - Link
Saturday, July 3 2010, 5:27 pm EST

Age: 25
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Gender: Male
Location: UK
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I use Internet Explorer 8 and HATPC works fine for me.
Livio
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Saturday, July 3 2010, 5:45 pm EST

Age: 31
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I think you said that somewhere before, and I'm still not sure if I believe that. I used to use IE 7 but when I upgraded to 8, HATPC stopped working. Or maybe the latest version of IE 8 is compatible with HATPC? I'll check...

edit: either I have the latest version, or microsoft's site won't tell me how to upgrade.
edit2: and I still can't play HATPC in IE.
jellsprout
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Sunday, July 4 2010, 5:55 am EST
Lord of Sprout Tower

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Now to win new souls on the Neopets boards.
You sure this comes up first on Google?

edit: Tried "hannah and the pirate caves shockwave error" and it worked. Now off to Neopets!


Spoiler:
soccerboy13542
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Sunday, July 4 2010, 2:37 pm EST
~*~Soccer~*~

Karma: 450
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It doesn't work for any browsers for me


'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.
Yaya
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 3:38 pm EST

Age: 28
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How do you delete your cache in IE?



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Livio
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 3:42 pm EST

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Go to Tools > Internet Options. Under the "General" tab, look at where it says "Browsing History". Click on the "Delete..." button. A new window will open. What you want is to make sure "Temporary Internet Files" is checked. Then hit the Delete button.
Yaya
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 3:51 pm EST

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Ok. Here's something strange. I tried downloading your cache, and my computer tried to open it through Windows Movie Maker, and failed. It tried opening Shockwave through Windows Movie Maker also. Why is everything trying to go through Windows Movie Maker?



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Livio
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 3:58 pm EST

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lol? When you click on the link to the zip, the browser should ask you if you want to open it or save it. Click open, and you should open it in some kind of win-zip/rar viewer, right? Take the two folders and extract them to where it says.

If you don't have that win-zip/rar viewer, try this: http://www.winzip.com/downwz.htm
Yaya
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 9:02 pm EST

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Ok, I found out why it kept opening everything with movie maker, and stopped that, but what should I open it with?



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Livio
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 9:05 pm EST

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actually what I have is called WinRAR, not winzip. http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm (I have no idea what all that stuff is though, lol).

But whenever I open any .zip or .rar file, this WinRAR window opens and it tells me what I can do with the files, like extract them to somewhere. But you know, I barely know what any of this stuff is. I just found it on my computer...
Yaya
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 9:34 pm EST

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You didn't really answer my question. When download your cache, it's asks me what I want to open it with. Examples: If I go thru Movie Maker I get an error. If I go thru IE I get and About:blank webpage. Do you know any programs that'd open your cache?



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Livio
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 9:40 pm EST

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in FF when I click the link, it asks me what I'd like to open it with (or if i'd like to save it) and the default program is called WinRAR.ZIP.

Or did you save the file to your computer, and now you're trying to get the files out? Well, the files are compressed so you'll need zip/rar file program so you can decompress them and load them.
Yaya
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 10:21 pm EST

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It worked! +Karma for you Livio! (until it stops working of course)



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
jazz
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Tuesday, July 6 2010, 11:10 pm EST

Karma: 108
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When I try to open a level it says 'Error: You are stupid'. Help?
Silver
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 3:23 am EST

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'Jazz' said:
When I try to open a level it says 'Error: You are stupid'. Help?

What is the name of the level?
canadianstickdeath
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 3:43 am EST

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'Silver' said:
'Jazz' said:
When I try to open a level it says 'Error: You are stupid'. Help?

What is the name of the level?
I'm too tired to think of the most humourous way to answer this question. I would like to apologize to the entire Interguild community for squandering this opportunity.

Jazz was making a joke. Said level is not and will never again be uploaded. You can find it here: http://www.interguild.org/levels/index.php?id=508
jellsprout
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 5:56 am EST
Lord of Sprout Tower

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I'm pretty sure it used a semicolon, not a colon. Shame TNT "fixed" that when they crashed the uploader.


Spoiler:
Yaya
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 11:15 am EST

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Alright. Ever since I downloaded your cache, Livio. I can't get Csd's cavemaker to run. Was there anything important in the caches that I deleted?



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Bmwsu
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 12:19 pm EST

Age: 28
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I can't play HatPC on this computer because Neopets won't load.

Any suggestions?


Livio
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Wednesday, July 7 2010, 1:59 pm EST

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'Yaya' said:
Alright. Ever since I downloaded your cache, Livio. I can't get Csd's cavemaker to run. Was there anything important in the caches that I deleted?
I don't see why the two should be at all related. It still works for me. Maybe try downloading the latest Java again?

and Bmw, you mean nothing on neopets loads for you? Maybe their site was down?

Also many of the problems that people have been having recently is either getting an empty black screen when trying to load HATPC, or getting a shockwave error in the loading screen. Downloading the cache is the only way I know how to fix those.
Bmwsu
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Thursday, July 8 2010, 1:40 pm EST

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How about: There are certain sites that never ever load on this computer, regardless of browser.  3 sites that I know about being: Neopets.com, K12.com, Subeta.com.


Livio
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Thursday, July 8 2010, 5:56 pm EST

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sounds like you blocked them or something? Or they block you?
DeathBunni X
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Tuesday, July 27 2010, 4:33 pm EST
Eww, school.

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I did everything on the list and it still wouldn't work. I'm using a lenovo laptop from 2007 and just installed Google Chrome and used the cache and everything and it still says something about shockwave movie not playing.


  
FlashMarsh
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Tuesday, July 27 2010, 4:40 pm EST

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'Bmwsu' said:
How about: There are certain sites that never ever load on this computer, regardless of browser.  3 sites that I know about being: Neopets.com, K12.com, Subeta.com.


Often, any games website while using primitive Parental Controls (Like I used to) will, for some reason block every games website. For me, this used to include Neopets and Miniclip. In fact the only games website I could get working was Nitrome.
Livio
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Tuesday, July 27 2010, 4:40 pm EST

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what's the exact error that you get?

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