FAQs / Common Errors

[kChamp]

I get a lot of support emails, sometimes more than I’m able to respond to, so I thought it would be good to have a central knowledge-base of common errors and issues players have.

Various Crashes / Black Screen

26% of support emails

ShellShock Live is built using the Unity Engine, which is constantly being updated and improved upon. Usually a crash will be caused by something deep in the engine code, and out of my control. Crash dumps should be generated next to the game executable at the following location:

[Steam Folder]/steamapps/common/ShellShock Live/[Dump Folder]

The dump folder should look something like “2017-03-15_105346.” Go ahead and send me the folder (sslsteam <at> shellshocklive <dot> com). Also feel free to poke around the dump and see if you find anything interesting. Sometimes a couple google searches can help you fix the problem. There are a couple tips that might help if you experience crashes:

1. Most crashes seem to be graphics-based. Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.
   
2. Try running ShellShock Live in administrator mode. To do this, navigate to the executable ([Steam Folder]/steamapps/common/ShellShock Live/ShellShockLive.exe). Right Click it and go to Properties. On the Compatibility tab, check the box that says ‘Run this program as an administrator.’ When you launch the game through Steam now, it should have admin privileges.

Lost Connection

ReceivedBytes == 0 / EndRead Failure / Empty Reply error message
20% of support emails

ShellShock Live uses the Player.IO framework to handle network and multiplayer features. I’ve been in contact with the developers about these errors, but unfortunately don’t have a concrete fix.

Directly from Player.IO on ReceivedBytes == 0 error:
“It's a pretty low-level error message that indicates that the Multiplayer server tried to read network traffic from the client, but got 0 bytes for whatever reason. It's most probably the result of an underlying network problem, but it shows as an ugly error message. I unfortunately have no tips for those kind of errors, it's really difficult to know what's going wrong without sitting with the user's device on the user's network. In many cases, it might also be out of the user's control, it might be something their ISP is doing. Impossible to tell, sorry.”

Here are a few things to try if you get these errors:

1. Try disabling your firewall and antivirus. Many players have mentioned to me that doing these fixed the problem.
   
2. Again, try running ShellShock Live in admin mode. Instructions above in the ‘Lost Connection’ section.

Steam Authentication Error

16% of support emails

Here is the full error message: “PlayerlOClient.PlayerlOError: ExternalError; Steam Authentication: Error authenticating against steam: InternalServerError, Internal Server Error”

These errors should be fixed now. If you’re still seeing this, please reach out to me.

'Steamworks Is Not Initialized' Error

15% of support emails

There are a few possible reasons you are receiving this error. Here they are (directly from Steam):

1. The Steam Client isn't updated to the latest version If this is the case, go to Steam > Check for Steam Client Updates. You might need to do this a few times after restarting Steam to get to the most current version.
   
2. The Steam client isn't running. A running Steam client is required to provide implementations of the various Steamworks interfaces. If this is the case, simply (re)starting Steam and then restarting ShellShock Live should fix the issue.
   
3. The Steam client couldn't determine the AppID of game. If this is the case, make sure you are launching ShellShock Live directly through Steam. Don’t open the .exe directly or use some other means.
   
4. Your application is not running under the same user context as the Steam client, including admin privileges. Despite advising admin mode earlier, you may have to run SSL as a regular user, or run both Steam and SSL as admin.

Wrongful Ban

7% of support emails

I obviously take these with a grain of salt. With that said, the only thing worse than not banning a hacker is banning an innocent user. I’m working on a more robust system to make sure bans are deserved.

Text as Pink Boxes

7% of support emails

I’m no expert, but pink boxes screams shader incompatibility to me. This means that for some reason, your graphics card doesn’t support how SSL renders text. SSL uses TextMesh Pro for crisp text, which does use a custom shader, but it still should be compatible with SSL’s minimum specs. TextMesh Pro has recently been purchased by Unity, so maybe they’ll release a new version with more compatibility. If you’re seeing pink boxes for text, try updating your graphics driver. If that doesn’t help, email me your computer and graphics card info.

Endless Connect Screen or ‘Logged In Elsewhere

5% of support emails

There are two connection methods SSL tries. The first default method uses the standard ports 80 and 443. The second uses other ports. For some reason, the first method doesn’t work or is blocked for some players with some ISPs. So, after the first try times out, we try the second. However, after the second method connects, sometimes the first method that we tried earlier also decides to connect. This results in the ‘Logged in elsewhere’ error. To fix this, hold down the ‘2’ key during the splash and connection screen to force the game to only use method 2. Kind of hacky, but it should work.

Unknown Room Type: The Game ShellShock Live Unity doesn't have server type with the name 'X' + long list of names

This error means that you haven't updated the game and your old version is not supported by the server anymore. Restart Steam to automatically update and you should be good to go!

Report System

There is a lot of misinformation going around about the report system. Accounts can't be flagged or banned solely because of user reports. If you were flagged or banned, it was because a hack was detected directly, or you were manually banned by me. Reports just provide additional info about the community standing of an account.

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Hopefully this helps demystify some of the more common issues. If you have any insight into any of these problems, please do comment below and I’ll try to update the post with the new info.

[:(]

Thank you for finally documenting these errors and providing possible fixes aswell as the reasons to why they're caused, I know this will provide comfort to many users like me who have been frustrated over the past couple of months because of some of these errors.

Looking forward to future upcoming updates, keep up the good work Kyle!

[Fletch74]

get on and play some 4v4

[Joki the Disco Bandit]

The "ReceivedBytes" error has trolled me 3 times now in the Lobsider campaign. 3 different times I've had 3 of the 4 opponents eliminated, and when I've gotten the 4th down around half his armor the game has disconnected, each time with that same error message.

[Lindii]

Steam Authentication Error : Im playing on my MacBook but i cant play because of this Error what can i do?

[Caliđa Myriad]

Glad to see that issues are getting resolved!
and seeing that they're now taken note of in a thread makes it even better!
Great game, Glad to see you care about us as much as we care about you!


On a side note....

Seeing that this is probably the pinned thread for it; I've been working on a guide on fixes to common issues. No I will not post it here, I consider that advertising.

I figure I'd mention this [KChamp, Let me know if I should take it down or not I will if you request me to!] It contains fixes that may work as-well as trying to provide a general concept for what causes a glitch [ I.e those pink boxes ] Again, This is NOT something I am doing for reputation nor to be cool, I am doing this for the better of the community, and would like to see the best for this game, and KChamp.

anyway; Keep up the great work on this game!
[ I am aware, this is a slight necro, But It's a pinned thread]

[DanyaDark]

Lost Connection dont fixed :c. my friend wifi connection

[DadlessBobert✪]

Hi i seem to be having an issue where steamworks wont initialize i have been able to play the a game a few times but after that it does not allow to play anymore i am getting pretty frustrated with this i purchased this and now it does not work i enjoy the game and i dont want to have to refund it but that is what seems to be the answer please kchamp if you could respond to me that would be great

[The King of Kings]

I got the Steam Authentication Error and I cant play the game.

I bought this today and I cant do anything pls help.

[Admiral Obvious]

Someone is trying to DDOS the game using the Tournament feature. Something should be done soon.

[Joki the Disco Bandit]

"ReceivedBytes == 0 / EndRead Failure / Empty Reply error message
20% of support emails"

This happens, consistently, when the game switches protocols from TCP to IGMP. Many people's PCs or routers may be set up to disallow IGMP, due to its security vulnerabilities. When the game does its switch those people will get this error.

There are, it seems, maybe only two possible "solutions". One is for people to allow IGMP requests. The other would be for the devs to cease using this protocol. Both carry drawbacks, i.e. the former creates a number of security issues, while the latter would tend to increase or clog up the data flow, not to mention that it would require re-coding.

But it is definitely correlated to this switching of protocols. If you want to verify this yourself simply monitor the traffic as the game plays. If you are one of those running a system which disallows IGMP requests by default, or if you have some kind of software such as PeerGuardian or the like which does so, you will see this error every single time the game tries to use it, because your system is blocking it entirely and thus the network receives 0 data from you through that protocol. Then it dumps you.

[Lapius]

I hate the thing, then i spin daily reward, and i get no coins... This gappened few times ago, but today, then i won 100 coins, i didnt get it. That was the last drop to my patience glass... Please fix it.

[Whitewing]

I got flagged for using a hack/aimbot and I dont even have hacks or any kind of aimbot?

[🏳️‍🌈Gangooo🐱]

Originally posted by Whitewing:

I got flagged for using a hack/aimbot and I dont even have hacks or any kind of aimbot?

Same...

[The Festive Potato]

It seems that a lot of people aren't getting steam achievements, based on this discussion http://steamcommunity.com/app/326460/discussions/0/1318836262660973360/
I think it'd be good for you to double check whether a recent patch have screwed something up with the achievements.

[The King of Kings]

I have since I bought this game the same problem and I dont know what to do.
I done evry thing.
The Problem is Steam Authentications Error.
Can some one help me?