For general (non-technical) questions or comments, click here to send an e-mail.  For help with technical problems, please see the rest of this page.

     If your problem is accompanied by an error message, please see the Error Message section below. If you do not receive an error message (or receive an error message not listed below), please see the Tech Support link at the bottom of this page.

Internet Games & Routers:  If you are behind a router (NAT), then it will be necessary to open the proper ports and forward them to the local IP address of your computer.  While UPnP is supposed to handle this for you (if it is enabled in the router), it has been my experience that it does not always work.  I recommend NOT using UPnP when playing Boogle games.  However, I know that some people really prefer to use it and may even require it for certain programs that they use. Therefore, I will give instructions for using UPnP and not using UPnP. The first thing you should know is that Boogle uses DirectPlay 4 (a part of DirectX 7).  An Internet search about playing DirectX 7 games over the Internet will reveal that getting these games to work through a router is a common problem.  Hopefully the advice below will help. When using port forwarding rules in a router, it is generally recommended that you use static IPs for all of your computers on the LAN (if you have more than one computer), or at minimum for the ones you are forwarding ports to.  See your router manual or search the Internet for more information on setting up static IP addresses on your local network.
UPnP DISABLED in router (recommended): If you had previously used a DirectX 7 game with UPnP enabled, you may have a UPnP entry in your router for port 47624. After turning UPnP off, delete this rule then do the following:
     Only one computer behind my router will ever use Boogle:
         1) In your router open port 47624 (TCP/UDP) and forward it to the IP address of the computer you will use to play Boogle.  For example, if your PC uses the local IP address 192.168.1.101, then forward the port to 192.168.1.101.
         2) In your router open the port RANGE 2300-2400 (TCP/UDP) and forward it to the IP address of the computer you will use to play Boogle.
     More than one computer behind my router will use Boogle:
         1) In your router open port 47624 (TCP/UDP) and forward it to the IP address of ONE computer that you will use to HOST a Boogle Game.  For example, if your PC uses the local IP address 192.168.1.101, then forward the port to 192.168.1.101.  Note that this is the only computer on your LAN that will be able to successfully host a game. If you wish to host on another PC in your LAN, you will need to forward it to the other PC first.  You should however be able to join a remote game from any PC on your LAN that you have configured in these steps.
         2) Get a copy of DXPort and put a copy of it on each computer in your LAN that you will use to play Boogle on.
         3) Configure DXPort to use a different port range for each PC in your LAN.  Please see the instructions that come along with DXPort for more information.
         4) In your router open the port range specified in DXPort (TCP/UDP) and forward it to the appropriate IP address of each PC you will use.  The sample below is for configuring 2 computers on a LAN (a Sony at “101” and a custom-built at “102”).

Rule Name Range Protocol Local IP DPlay Sony 2302-2311 TCP/UDP 192.168.1.101 DPlay Custom 2312-2321 TCP/UDP 192.168.1.102

         5) Run DXPort on each PC before running Boogle. It will force DirectPlay to choose a port in the small range you specified in DXPort. You can either run DXPort each time before playing Boogle over the Internet or you can choose to have DXPort run at system startup.

UPnP ENABLED in router (not recommended): UPnP should automatically place an entry in your router for port 47624.  However, it tends to set it to UDP protocol and forward it to “255”.  This does not work!  You will either need to manually create a separate rule and open 47624 for TCP or delete the automatically created rule every time and create a manual rule for port 47624 and TCP/UDP. Also, change the destination IP to that of the PC you plan on hosting with (for example, 192.168.1.101).  After doing this, do the following:
     Only one computer behind my router will ever use Boogle:
         1) You don’t need to do anything else.  UPnP will automatically open the appropriate port for you (somewhere in the range of 2300-2400) and when you finish with Boogle the port will automatically close (the rule gets removed).
     More than one computer behind my router will use Boogle:
         1) Get a copy of DXPort and put a copy of it on each computer in your LAN that you will use to play Boogle on.
         2) Configure DXPort to use a different port range for each PC in your LAN.  Please see the instructions that come along with DXPort for more information.
         3) Run DXPort on each PC before running Boogle. It will force DirectPlay to choose a port in the small range you specified in DXPort. You can either run DXPort each time before playing Boogle over the Internet or you can choose to have DXPort run at system startup. With UPnP enabled, the appropriate ports will be opened automatically and closed when you finish with Boogle. DirectPlay via UPnP has a tendency to use the same port for more than one PC on a LAN. By using DXPort to specify a unique range for each PC, this allows a unique port to be forwarded to each PC.

Windows Vista Notice:  As shipped, Windows Vista does not support the older Windows help file format used by this software (.hlp). Because of this, you may not be able to view the included help file if you are using Windows Vista. Microsoft has released a free update that will allow help files in the “.hlp” format to be viewed on Vista.  To download the free update (for Windows Vista only), click here.

Error Messages during installation:

"Error in compressed file - Bad CRC" - This error can occur if you have a “bad download”.  When Setup is run, it checks the integrity of the Setup file itself. This error is generated if it is determined that the Setup file has missing or corrupted data. To fix the problem, you simply need to try downloading again.  Following the steps below should increase your chances of being successful on your next download attempt:

• Delete the Setup file that contains the error.
• Empty your Temporary Internet Files folder.  In Internet Explorer, click on the ‘Tools|Internet Options...’ menu, then click on the [Delete Files...] button, then click [OK] to delete the files. You will not lose any important data by doing this. The Temporary Internet Files are files that Internet Explorer creates and uses as you surf the internet.
• Try downloading the file again.
• Try to refrain from downloading too many other things at the same time.

Error Messages in application:

“Runtime Error ‘##########’: Automation Error” - Automation errors have no specific cause, but are generally due to a driver problem or problem with DirectX. Try the following to fix this error:

• Be sure you are running the latest version of DirectX
• Click Start>Run then type dxdiag into the box and click OK.  Once this app starts, click on each tab at the top of the window to examine each part of DirectX.  At the bottom of the window for each tab, you will see a list of problems found (if any).  Fixing any problems listed in this app is a good place to start! Often the errors listed can be fixed by doing the next suggestion.
• Be sure you are using the latest drivers for your sound and graphics cards.  You can usually find driver updates by going to the website of the company who makes the card (or sometimes the company who makes the processor that the card uses). If you are unsure of their website, try doing a search on the name of your card.

"A required .DLL file, xxxxxxx, was not found." - The system files required by Boogle were not installed correctly, are missing, or have become corrupted. Please re-install Boogle. This can sometimes occur after "un-installing" another application. When given the option, you should never allow an un-installer to remove DLL or OCX files from your Windows\System folder.

"Component 'xxxxxxx' not correctly registered: file is missing or invalid." - The system files required by Boogle were not installed correctly, are missing, or have become corrupted. Please re-install Boogle. This can sometimes occur after "un-installing" another application. When given the option, you should never allow an un-installer to remove DLL or OCX files from your Windows\System folder.

General Problems (no error message):

Boogle screens are rendered incorrectly - On some computers, the graphics on the Boogle screens appear shifted over (see image below). The typical cause of this is having a higher-than-normal DPI setting chosen for your video card.  Typically a user changes this setting to make things appear larger on the screen. I will most likely correct this problem some time in the future, but for now, the only way around it is to change the DPI setting back to normal.  If this makes things too small on your screen, consider lowering your screen resolution.  To change the DPI setting: Right-click on an empty part of the desktop and choose ‘Properties’.  Click on the ‘Settings’ tab then click the ‘Advanced’ button.  On the ‘General’ tab, make sure the DPI setting is set to normal.

 Incorrect screen rendering due to higher-than-normal DPI setting

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