somehow locked into an offline mode

[dstwhowes]

Any advice on how to get back to online play? Iv'e tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game, with no effect. Disclaimer: I am not tech savvy so please feel free to dumb down any advice to a step by step, spell it out for me, type tutorial.

[Juggernaut]

Check that you have no VPN, Firewall that is locking you out. You can check this quickly by disabling the firewall entirely and trying to run the game, if this works, you need to set a fire wall exclusion. Make sure steam is online.

then try this:
1. Open Windows Explorer
2. In the address bar type in %APPDATA%
3. Delete the axisandalliesonline-desktop folder
4. Empty the Recycle Bin if necessary
5. Ensure that no other unneeded applications are running, specifically any web browsers
6. Reopen the game and try again.

Do you remember connecting an email to the game?

[dstwhowes]

Thanks for the instruction. I followed, and now am receiving an authentication error message when trying to open the game. I'll keep trying. Ugh...

[Juggernaut]

Originally posted by dstwhowes:

Thanks for the instruction. I followed, and now am receiving an authentication error message when trying to open the game. I'll keep trying. Ugh...

The last time we had authentication error issues it was due to firewall. If you have an aftermarket product like Norton, Avast, etc. that you turned off, there may still be Windows Defender or Windows Firewall that is blocking. Please confirm that you checked this. If not, I think you will have to wait for a developer to help you out. They check this forum quite often.

[Ris Dnalor]

Originally posted by dstwhowes:

Thanks for the instruction. I followed, and now am receiving an authentication error message when trying to open the game. I'll keep trying. Ugh...

Did you have the authentication error initially, or is this new?

[dstwhowes]

It is new.

[Julius Borisov]

Hi there dstwhowes! If you still have this issue, let's try doing everything from scratch. Uninstall the game, remove the axisandalliesonline-desktop folder. Then install the game and watch for permissions / any other AV/Firewall windows appearing.

[dstwhowes]

Hello! I have followed your instruction, uninstalling, deleting the desktop folder, and emptying it from the recycle bin. I reinstalled the game. No permissions windows popped up. The only thing that popped up was "you've successfully installed Axis and allies...When I try to play the game, the initial picture comes up, and a box appears stating, "An authentication error has occurred. The game will now reload." clicking the OK or the X to close just brings the message back, sadly.

[kyrie626]

Were you logged into steam successfully? If for some reason at the moment you try to play, your steam account is not logged in, you will get this error. Were you launching the game from inside steam interface?

[Julius Borisov]

Have you ever made it to the account creation screen? What's your Commander Name / email?

[dstwhowes]

I was logged on and tried to launch the game through the Steam interface. I do not believe I have made it to the account creation screen. My e mail is [e-mail]. Is my commander name the name used in game, my player name? If so, that name is THATISABINGO. My Steam account name is boogiestorm1.

[Julius Borisov]

Everything looks OK unless it's a firewall on your PC or router or something similar.

Any chance you have logged in with a different Steam account? Worth checking.

If you aren't worried about losing your game history we could try deleting your account and starting with a clean slate maybe?

[dstwhowes]

I am absolutely ok with deleting and starting with a clean account.

[dstwhowes]

Can I just go ahead and open a new account, without having to repurchase the games?

[Ris Dnalor]

Originally posted by dstwhowes:

Can I just go ahead and open a new account, without having to repurchase the games?

I do think Julius was talking about your Axis & Allies account, and not your Steam Account.

In either case, I don't believe you'll need to repurchase the game, but it's possible Julius may be the one that has to delete your existing Axis & Allies account before you can get a new one. I'm not certain, but that's what it felt like to me, when reading their post.

[Julius Borisov]

Hi there! We've deleted your existing AAO account/Commander Name, so you can try to create a new one after launching the game. FYI we can only affect AAO accounts, not Steam accounts, of course. No need to repurchase the game.