Resignation

Yes...this seems to have resolved the problem.  Somehow placing my computer in DMZ mode, which is supposed to put the computer outside of any restricting firewall present in the router, gave it a public IP and the launcher just didn't seem to like that.  As for the toon...well...it got towed back to where it was supposed to be after the tiny bits of my ship were vacuumed up.

And therein lies another mystery.  I use a 2wire brand router for my home network.  I currently have this set so that it is DMZ'd and, according to my router, the ip address for this computer IS 72.201.222.37.  Now I have a couple other IPs in the drop down menu as options but when I try to select them I am told my attempt to login to the server failed and I don't even get the EULA Disagree/Agree box to appear.  It is only when I select my 72 IP that I get the EULA.   On a hunch I have tried taking the computer out of DMZ so that the router would assign it a regular internal IP address and attempted to log in.  So far, on the first attempt, it has allowed me to log in.  So we will see how that goes and for how long.   And, upon logging in, found myself in the Blackbeard system...warping my level 0 toon around to ultimately be destroyed by level 56 rogue drones....

-Win 7 ultimate 64 bit -screenshot included, though I don't know if that's exactly what you want to see -I am a cheapskate atm so I use avast!  I just now added it to the global exclusion list to give that a try but...avast has yet to report any issues with the program that I know of.

The launcher is v2.0.0.   As far as the ping command went my latency times are even better than the ones you listed.  They are 46-47 ms.  no loss.   When I get to the advanced settings, in the help menu, and click Force Update....nothing happens.  Not a thing.   11:26:52: Found 1 servers in (sunrise.net-7.org) 11:26:52: Trying server: (sunrise.net-7.org) 11:26:53: Login Service Connection Successful. 11:26:53: GetTicketSync(1) connection succeed with valid result. User                    : Resignation Password Context        : NOT NULL, NOT ZERO LENGTH ServiceID               : 2184 Auth Login Base Service : AuthLogin Auth Login Server       : sunrise.net-7.org Code                    : Text                    : 

Just tweaked the ipv4 settings, as per the recommended post, and also unchecked ipv6 in the adapter properties.   Read enough posts from people warning others to be on the sunrise so that's not much of a problem.   Has the patch already happened?  I have told the launcher to check for updates and 50 milliseconds later it says there are none.  While this would normally be self-explanatory ("Duh!  If it didn't patch then that means it hasn't happened yet!") I read a few other posts on issues similar to this and described deleting th6 files, one of the mix files, the cdata file and then telling the game to patch (keep in mind this is before I uninstalled and reinstalled everything step-by-step).  When I tried this, again at that point in time, the launcher didn't even flinch or fill in the files that were deleted...so I guess you could say I'm suspicious of it.   Attempts to log in still have me chasing my tail at the login/character select/galaxy map screens.

First I have to say it's great that the game has been resurrected and, over the past few years, I've checked in from time to time to see how the progress has gone.  As there are a lot of people playing it again it's obvious it must be going well.   With that being said I am very frustrated with my attempts to get this game to work.  In the past I vaguely remember downloading/installing a local copy that was more of a test than anything.  You could fly around in a ship in one system, shoot at some basic npcs, and that was about it.  Rather than be a game it rather reminded you of that game you used to play a decade ago (which I did).  It was tricky to get it to work, though.  I remember that much.  But get it to work I did.   This round I find it to be a "WTF" experience.  You'd think with more knowledge, experience, and far better hardware it would be easier...but no...it's not.  At the start I basically stumbled upon the announcement of how to get started in the game (why not in both the tech support area and the general discussion, I wonder?).    1.  So the demo exe was installed. 2.  It was patched 3.  the net 7 was installed (since no other versions were present) 4.  an account was registered on the net-7.org site 5.  the account was verified 6.  everything was configured 7.  The starship/character editor had the -noclassrestrictions line added to it's properties 8.  An explorer and a trader was made 9.  And then the game was logged into     That being said it led me to my most irritating problem yet: actually GETTING in the game...   So far out of 10 attempts I got into it once on the sunrise server:   1.  The password is put in and next is clicked. 2.  The character is chosen and next is clicked again. 3.  The galaxy map is shown for a number of seconds and, for the briefest of seconds, I see something about connection being lost 4.  I'm back at the log in screen again.   Now I've examined the FAQ page...and tried reinstalling the game all over again, changing compatibility options to xp sp2, a higher resolution, checkmarking various options in the launcher, and more.  And I'll even confess that, as I wrote this, I got into the game a second time...but it's getting very close to the same odds as someone playing the lottery or powerball.  In fact, just now as I left the station, I found myself at the login screen AGAIN.  This is where the "WTF" experience is occurring.  When all instructions are followed, and the FAQ doesn't seem to help with this "crash to login screen" or "looping login screen after galaxy map shows up for a bit" what is there to do?