Problems downloading, installing, or connecting

Q. When I start Active Worlds, or shortly thereafter, it crashes. How can I fix this?

A. There are many possible causes for this problem. You should first verify that your system meets the minimum requirements to run Active Worlds. If it does, we suggest trying the following steps in order. After each step, try to start Active Worlds again. If the problem is not solved, move on to the next step.

  • Locate the folder called "cache" in your Active Worlds folder and delete it.

  • It is possible that you have an old driver for your video card that needs updating. Make sure that you have the very latest video driver installed for your video card. You can get the latest driver for your card from your video card manufacturer's web site. You can usually locate this web site by doing a web search for your video card. See the Video Problems page for more information and details about upgrading your video driver.

  • Try changing your display depth to 16 bits - some video cards (especially many older cards in the Voodoo family) work better when your screen is set to 16 bit color (also known as "high color".) To change your display depth, right click on the Windows desktop, select Properties, and click on the Settings tab.

  • Upgrade to the latest version of DirectX - the latest version is available at www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.

  • Check for Windows Updates as well at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/.

  • Try changing to Software Mode by clicking on OPTIONS - SETTINGS - VIDEO, or you can do this by locating the Active Worlds folder, opening the aworld.ini file and making the following changes:

    [video] mode=2

  • An old, partially deleted, or corrupted install of Internet Explorer may be present on your system. Downloading and installing the latest version of Internet Explorer from www.microsoft.com/ie can fix this problem.

  • You may have a virus or disk problem on your PC. Try running a virus scan, and run the Windows ScanDisk utility to check your hard disk for problems. Also make sure that you have at least 50 megabytes of free space on your hard disk.

  • As a last resort, you can try un-installing and re-installing Active Worlds completely. Click here for more information.

Q. When I run the browser installer I get a "Corrupt Install Detected" error. What is the problem?

A. The most common cause for this error is an incomplete download of the installer. Try downloading the installer again. If you continue to experience this problem, try downloading from our FTP site instead as described above.

Q. When I start Active Worlds, it first hangs and then gives me the error "Login failed (reason 4)". How do I fix this?

A. You are probably running an old version of the Active Worlds Browser that is having trouble with the auto-upgrade process. You need to download the latest browser from here and re-install.

Q. When I start Active Worlds it never connects. I am behind a firewall.

A. If you are behind a firewall you will need to configure your firewall to allow Active Worlds to run. Click here for more information.

Q. Can I use Active Worlds with Wingate?

A. According to several of our customers, Active Worlds now works fine with the new version 3.0 of Wingate. It does not work with earlier (pre-3.0) versions of Wingate. If you are using an older version of Wingate we recommend upgrading to 3.0 before attempting to use it with Active Worlds.

Q. When I start Active Worlds it says "Unable to initialize Internet functions (reason 12167)" What is causing this?

A. This error is coming from an Internet Explorer configuration problem. Usually a bad URL has been specified in the VIEW/OPTIONS/ADVANCED/AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION window. Locate the Automatic Configuration settings in your installation of Internet Explorer and delete any URLs that are specified there.