[FAQ] If a game does not download... try again. A "How-To".

You probably don't need me to tell you this, but due to the way traffic is handled by our hoster, all the incoming download requests get filtered into two categories. That's right, "russian" and "foreign". Why the quote marks? Because it's not entirely... accurate.

You can check whether you're seen as one or the other by visiting this link. If it says you're an
"иностранец", then you're a foreigner :P

This means you go into the limited-access channel. The total access channel is only a meek 12 mb/s wide for all of us (you and me, and everyone else out there), with a gorgeous but purely theoretical limit of up to 1,5 mb/s total for all the foreign traffic. Which is damn near impossible to achieve for a single person, considering how many of you people actually manage to live outside the Iron Curtain. And how many residents of Moscow still get branded as "foreigners" by this ingenious system. Nothing WE can do about it (save for a change of a hoster, but that will definitely require making the site paid-access, which is something we'd want to avoid for as long as we can).


How can you get out of this predicament (save for a move to Siberia -- sorry guys, but European Russia is already overcrowded as it is, and out there, among the snow, bears and illegally immigrating Chinamen, there's still a lot of living space left) is entirely up to you -- but using a russian proxy seems to be the most sound solution. I will not read you a lengthy tutorial on how to use one, you'll have figure it out for yourself. Sorry.

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Pretty picture, ain't it? Well, this here picture shows the server load. The maximum is 12 mb/s. The usual load is 11 mb/s. The tricky part is that non-russian-residents only get to use 1,5 of those mb/s, which most certainly isn't much. This is here to show you whether or not the server is alive at all - because if it flatlines, it will mean that bad stuff has taken place and everybody misses out on the cool fun of abandonware gaming. Ouchie.

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Problem-solving Central.​

If a game does not download or some other bad stuff happens, this is where you run to to see the most generic of problems and how to deal with them.

*302 Moved Temporarily
Not an error per se, this is just a technical mention your downloader software might show you if you actually manage to connect to our server. This is a normal part of how our magical redirection to the fileserver works.

*I downloaded game X, but game Y gives out a 404 or something of the same degree. WTF?
If you did really get game X off our site (sorry for doubting you, but there have been numerous cases of visitors hallucinating having actually downloaded something from us and then us discovering that their files came from elsewhere during the interroga-- er-- interviewing), then you should probably alert the admins or something, because game Y has apparently gone AWOL on us. Dang.

*Are you using a download-manager or anything else of the sort?
If you're not, you really should be. IE is a fine browser, but it cuts off way too often, Opera and Firefox sometimes fail to make friends with our server redirection techniques that we're using for anti-leech protection. Download Master is recommended, although you can also try using ReGet, FlashGet or what-have-you. Be forewarned, some of them can cause the archives to end up being corrupted in transit if you're using fragmented/multi-stream downloading modes.

*For those using download-managers... Is the referrer field filled out properly?
It's the little dinky thing that tells our site you got the file link from our site so our anti-leech protection will let you get your paws on the file itself. Otherwise, you get the boot. Most download-managers do this automatically, but most of those do it improperly from time to time. Double and triple-check - the referrer field of your downloader should contain the address of the page you got the file link from. We got pictures of how this looks, too!
FlashGet v1.73

Download Master 5.5

*Are you behind a firewall?
Then make sure that port 8081 is not being blocked by it. These things happen sometimes, I know, I know. Please note that there may be a firewall at the end of your connection to your internet provider, in which case you may not be able to avoid the block and will probably have to find out a different internet connection to download our games with. Sorry.

*Is the server even alive?
Check the graph above and the posts of admins in this thread. We usually warn users when the drek hits the fan so you would know when it's useless to try any downloading.

*Are you sure you got the right site?
There are cyber-squatters living on our former address, the one without the hyphen in it. While they offer all of our reviews and files for perusal, their archives are severely outdated. You can, however, use them as an alternative mirror because their visiting rates are lower and, thusly, you have a higher chance of getting a download slot there. Give the bastards hell for stealing our address - the more foreign traffic they get, the more they will have to pay for hosting. Through the nose, naturally.

*If nothing above helped you...
Time to complain.

Fill out this form:
1) The game or file you're trying to download (please link to the game's page on the site, f.e. - 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons (1995, DOS))
2) Your OS and Internet browser (Windows 2000 Pro, MSIE6 SP1)
3) Your downloader, if any (ReGet 4.1 build 241)
4) The error your downloader shows you (404 File Not Found)
5) Your IP (111.222.333.* - those among you suffering from paranoid delusions can cover the last number with an asterisk) and whether or not you're in Russia). Be forewarned, you've got to mention your external IP! If you're on a LAN and your IP begins with 10.*.*.* or 192.168.*.* - then it's an internal IP, the external can be seen at the same place you check if you're "russian" or not.

Good luck and be sure to ask any questions you may have left in a thorough and understandable manner. "U SUK, KTHX BAI" is an example of posts that won't get you anywhere. Yeps. Any questions?

 

Isn't this FAQ a little outdated?..