Troubleshooting

As with any Beta release of software, the MWLL mod does suffer from some crashing, lockups and bugs, but also Crysis itself is not perfect, and many problems come from the main game more than MWLL itself.

This FAQ aims to provide a list of frequently encountered technical problems in MWLL. If you do not find your question on here, you can find help in the #tech_support channel in our Discord!

Setup / Install / Starting Troubleshooting

After downloading the MWLL Installer, the MWLL Launcher asks to update but then doesn't complete the update or work properly!

A: Follow these steps:

Make sure you're running the MWLL Installer as administrator (right-click on the MWLL Installer, run as administrator) and re-run the installer.

Try changing the install location somewhere outside of windows protected folders such as "program files" or the user folders. You could put it in c:\games\mwll as an example.
Try disabling your antivirus (Windows defender or similar) and/or set an exception for the Installer [MWLL-Installer.exe] file.

If the Launcher still does not update properly, close it and do the following:

Try disabling your antivirus (Windows defender or similar) and/or set an exception for the Launcher [MWLLLauncher.exe] file which is located in your install location (hopefully c:\games\mwll).
Make sure you're running the MWLL Launcher as administrator (right-click on the MWLL Launcher icon, run as administrator) and re-run the Launcher.

The server list is empty!

A: Our service needs purge and repopulate the server list at regular intervals. When this happens, it can take up to a minute until the list shows all servers again. Just give it some time!

There are no players to play against!

A: You can check for the best times of day to play here. You can jump on the Discord and ask around if anyone would like to play. You can get on a 12thVR server and type !requestbackup or !calltojohn in the in game chat to issue a Discord announcement. Or you can practice solo on one of the Training/Free Practice servers. They provide a large sum of Cbills letting you get the most powerful Assaults, Tanks, and Aircraft without having to earn them from regular gameplay.

The installer put the files into the wrong directory!

A: Right click on this link, then click on "Save As", and save it to your desktop, then merge it in your registry. Then, reboot your PC and run the MWLL installer. The installer should ask you for the MWLL installation directory now. Make sure to point it to the Crysis Wars installation directory, not to the MWLL directory!

After a recent launcher update, it fails to start!

A: Version 3.3 of the launcher now requires .NET Framework 4.7. If you're still running an older OS such as Windows 7, you might have to install it manually. You'll nee the .NET 4.7 Web Installer and, if that complains, also KB4019990 prior to that. Alternatively, our MWLL Installer already includes .NET 4.7 too.

The old link to MWLL Launcher is not working anymore!

A: With MWLL 0.9.0, we shipped a brand new Launcher. We suggest to create a link that points to the new launcher while installing the MWLL patch. You can also navigate to the MWLL installation folder, right click on MWLLLauncher and click Send to -> Desktop

I clicked on `Configure Controls` on the Launcher, but nothing happens.

A: The Actionmapper application requires Java 32 bit to work. Click on this link, then download the Windows Offline installer (not the 64 bit), and execute it.

Game doesn't start or crashes while starting

A: Follow these steps:

Make sure you installed all the redists. You find them in the installation folder of MWLL, in the Redists folder. Do not attempt to install the 64 bit redistributables in 32 bit systems.

Click on the toolbox icon of the Launcher, check the Verify Crysis Files option, then click on Repair Install

If it crashes while launching, you might have a corrupted profile. In this case, you have to delete this folder: %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/Profiles/

When I start up MWLL, my screen goes black and nothing happens!

A: MWLL takes a while to start up due to the inbuilt client side cheat protection. On some machines this can give you up to 30 seconds of black screen, so give it a little while and see if it loads. If it still fails to load, try to follow these steps:

Make sure you installed MWLL using the new Lite Installer Package and you are using the new MWLL Launcher
Try to delete this folder: %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/Profiles/ before starting the launcher.
Try to restart Windows' BFE service. An alternative to restarting the BFE service is simply to reboot your computer.
- Close MWLL
- Click Start, type services.msc and hit enter
- Locate and right click on the service named BFE (Base Filtering Engine)
- Click on Restart
- Close the Services prompt, and start MWLL
If this still fails, try to switch to either OpenDNS or GoogleDNS. Instructions are here

When I start up MWLL, a weird console thing appears!

A: Just close it with tilde (~) or ESC. This is necessary to workaround an old CryEngine bug.

MWLL won't allow me to select the correct resolution of my screen

A: There's a very tiny scroller on the right side of the drop down resolution list. Drag it down, and you should see all the resolution supported.

Crysis Wars supports resolutions up to 1920x1200. If 1920x1200 is not available, make sure to disable any multi-GPU setup, such as Nvidia Optimus if on laptop, Nvidia SLI or AMD CrossFire if on desktop. You can also force higher resolutions in the config file, which is %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/game.cfg The commands are r_width and r_height, which respectively set the screen width and height resolution (in pixels)

I am stuck on the connecting screen, after I clicked on "Internet game"

A: If it works after waiting for 2 to 5 minutes, your ISP is most likely doing DNS hijacking. This practice is often done by ISPs in order to intercept mistyped or non-existent domain names and serve their own site instead.

If you are a customer of German Telekom, you can disable the "Navigationshilfe".

Otherwise, the only workaround is to switch to a different DNS server, such as Google DNS or 1.1.1.1. Instructions are here or here.

I get "ERROR: Login information not found", after I clicked on "Internet game"

A: If you already have restarted the game through our launcher without success, it's possible that your firewall or antivirus is blocking network communication. At least AVG is known to do this. Please add an exception for Crysis.exe to your firewall. If the game is installed in Program Files (x86) it might be a problem with the permissions that can be fixed by moving the install folder outside of Program Files (x86) to c:\games\mwll or similar.

When I connect to a server, I get a "modified files" error and the game closes!

A: Just start the game again and connect normally. This is a bug that made it into 0.8 - it can happen when just having freshly installed MWLL. If that doesn't solve it, you can click on Verify Install on the new launcher.

When I connect to a server, the auto-downloader continuously fails to download the map.

A: Close the game, download the map manually from the map repository and extract the content of the zip archive to ...\Crysis Wars\Mods\MWLL\Game\Levels\ from there the path should line up with the folder structure in the zip archive Multiplayer\Gamemode\Mapname. Then you can restart the game and should be able to join the server.

Game Crashes / Gameplay Troubleshooting

My game crashes often, especially when I try to zoom!

A: Crashes happen. Sorry! We are working on fixing them. Here are some tweaks that could make the game more stable:

Crysis Wars officially supports resolution up to 1920x1200. Anything above (2k, 4k) might cause unexpected crashes (especially while zooming).
Make sure you are running 64 bit mode. You can set it on the Launcher. 32 bit mode is not recommended, as it is more unstable than the 64 bit mode.
Try switching to DX9 mode in the Global Configuration section on the Launcher, if it doesn't help, switch back to DX10.
Try running in Windowed mode as explained here
Disable ALL overlays! Anything that creates a pop-up or notification in-game may cause Crysis Wars to crash. Known overlay offenders are listed below:
- Nvidia Geforce Experience (In-Game Overlay), Radeon Adrenalin (In-Game Overlay and Toast Notifications), Steam, TeamSpeak, Discord.
Disable hardware acceleration on your Discord client, if you are running it.
Close your web browser.
Make sure you don't run the game through Steam.
If you are using a multi-GPU setup (Nvidia SLI, AMD CrossFire, or Nvidia Optimus), disable it. You don't really need much GPU power anyway.
Reduce your graphical settings to medium. For details see Performance Guide.

I lost my connection/crashed and now the server tells me "authentication failed" / I'm stuck on the loading screen when I try to reconnect!

A: Try again in 30-60 seconds. The server still sees your player and it takes a short while until it times out.

I have terrible ping and the game lags a lot!

Also known as "Red X" -- A: This can have many causes.

Pay attention to where in the world the server you're playing on is located. Ping will increase with distance.
Are you on Windows 10? Go to Windows Update settings -> Advanced options -> Choose how updates are delivered and set Updates from more than one place and set it to Off or PCs on my local network. Also disable all telemetry that you can find. You can also use Spybot Anti-Beacon for this.
Do you have an overeager firewall or antivirus? Try disabling it temporarily.
Playing over WIFI adds additional latency and potential packet loss, try using a wired connection.
Some modems/routers and ISPs have problems with the UDP packet rate that CryEngine 2 produces. Modems based on Intel's Puma 5/6/7 chipset are known to be bad, see here, here and here. Consider changing your network hardware if possible.
If nothing helps, an option might be to stick to games with smaller player populations. Players who experience these problems can usually play fine on servers with up to 18 players. A couple of "low-lag" servers have been set up for this purpose.
Furthermore, large games simply stress the engine a lot and you will occasionaly feel like you're lagging or see warping vehicles. This cannot be helped.

Consider verifying your connectivity quality to the server by running the console command net_channelstats 2 as detailed here.

I get disconnected a lot during the game, the error reads "Malformed packet"

A: It is not known where exactly this error comes from, and the dev team is looking into it with a high priority. It can happen to some players more than others. Some players report that restarting or even replacing their network router works around it.

I keep falling through the floor/my tanks keep getting stuck in the hangar

A: You are desynched from the server. Disconnect and reconnect and the issue will go away.

Discord / TeamSpeak / Steam overlays don't work!

A: CryEngine hates overlays. Not really much to do about that. Using overlays is not advisable, because they negatively affect the game stability.

My console becomes black when I open it, and clouds, terrain or the HUD get funny colors.

A: This is known as the rainbow bug or shader bug, it can be fixed by clicking the "clear shader cache" button in the MWLL launcher. You can prevent this bug from happening by opening and closing the console after you started the game. You can add the line consoleshow to your user.cfg in your My Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/MWLL/Client/ directory to have it open automatically. The combined installer should be unaffected as it already comes with such a suitable autoexec.

My sound is very choppy/keeps cutting out/pops.

A: In Windows, go to Control Panel -> Sound -> Select your playback device -> Click Properties -> Advanced tab. Problems can appear if you use a too high sample rate. Try with 2 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz (CD Quality)

I have an high refresh rate monitor (75Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz), but when in Fullscreen mode, the screen will use a slower refresh rate (50Hz / 60Hz)

A: It's not possible to manually specify the refresh rate of the monitor while in Fullscreen mode, and for some reason, the game will cap the refresh rate at 50Hz / 60Hz if you do that. A solution for that is to run the game in Windowed mode. Also, remember to disable V-Sync (use r_vsync=0 in the console). Another solution (tested only with nvidia gpu) is to go into your GPU's control panel, then go to Change Resolution. Near the list of resolutions should be a "Customize" button. Click that and create a custom resolution with one fewer pixel than normal (for instance, 1919x1080 instead of 1920x1080) and be sure the refresh rate is set to your desired refresh rate. Next, use a user.cfg file to set r_width = 1919, so that it matches your new custom resolution. Your desktop resolution does NOT need to be 1919x1080 for this to function.

How can I run the game in Fullscreen-Window / Borderless-Window mode?

A: CryEngine 2 doesn't directly support that screen mode. Choose between these free third party applications that make this work:

Preferred free application: WindowedBorderlessGaming Working download link:[1]
- Having mouse problems? In the Windowed Borderless Gaming Game Settings, enable the "Manage mouse" and set it to "Lock to game window". This will prevent the mouse pointer from leaving the MWLL window.

If the above app doesn't work, you can always try Borderless Gaming
Set MWLL in Windowed mode via the Crysis Options > System Settings > Graphics section. Disable both fullscreen and VSync options.
Set the game to run in DX10 mode as it usually works better for Windowed mode. The key combination Alt-Enter may work to toggle between Windowed mode and Fullscreen mode.

My mech's torso doesn't move like it should, controls are all wonky, what's up?

A: Make sure you have no gamepad or controller plugged in, as this can mess with Crysis' key and mouse inputs.

There's a player in game that won't stop typing annoying things in chat!

A: Press and hold [tab]. While continuing to hold tab, press [space]. Your mouse cursor will appear on the screen. Click the speaker icon next to the annoying player's name. For the rest of the current match, you will no longer be able to see any of that players chats. If the chats are particularly abusive, please report them to the appropriate server administrator.

I can't get my Joystick to work!

A: Crysis Wars only supports XInput devices. (i.e. X360 pad, or X360 emulators).

You can workaround this by reading this guide or see the Joystick Setup page.

How do I disable force-feedback on my joystick/gamepad?

A: Add this to your user.cfg: i_forcefeedback = 0

It's also a good idea to have a look at Game.log with a text editor when you're having problems. It's located in the Crysis Wars directory.

I got my joystick/gamepad to work with MWLL, but the torso twist setup doesn't work. What's going on?

Unfortunately, torso/turret twist with joystick/gamepads is currently not working; this means torso and turret twist can only be operated via mouse or keyboard for the time being. We aim to have this fixed for the next release.

Someone is Cheating!

A: Follow the guide over here.

What happened to my configuration (autoexec.cfg) file? It worked just a patch ago!

A: Patch 0.8.6 introduced a new file structure where autoexec.cfg no longer controls various settings related to MWLL. Instead, look for the user.cfg (if it doesn't exist, you can just create it) in %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/MWLL/Client/User.cfg and place your settings there instead.

Diagnosing MWLL network server connectivity with the console

Open the MWLL console with the tilde/back-quote [`] key. In the console type:

net_channelstats 2

and close the console. Watch the stats over time (a whole match) and compare them to this good connection snapshot:

pktrate = server requested packet rate.
cur = client current packet rate - should be steady and not dip below the server pktrate.
- A good connection will show the cur rate fluctuating by 10%.
- The cur rate usually doesn't go over 65, even if the server requests higher. This is fine.
loss = detected packet loss - should be 0 at all times. May not record all instances of packet loss though.
dropped = packets dropped - should be very low if not 0.
pq to = packet timeouts - should be very low if not 0.
pktsz = packet size - should be very steady and between 1000 to 1300.

The above net_channelstats 2 snapshot shows a good MWLL client connection to the server.

The cur packet rate is above the server requested rate but not more than 40% higher.

The number of dropped packets and pq to (packet timeouts) are 0.

The pktsz packet size is 1272.

A bad connection snapshot:

This net_channelstats 2 snapshot shows a very poor MWLL client connection to the server.

The cur packet rate is far below the server requested rate.

The number of dropped packets is very high vs the total number of packets received and sent.

There are pq to (packet timeouts) occurring.

The player would have lots of difficulty controlling the direction/speed of their asset let alone targeting and damaging enemies successfully. All assets would appear to be warping and stuttering. Other players would see this player warping as well and would not be able to successfully hit him. A generally frustrating experience for everyone!

Consider checking here for solutions to poor connectivity.

To turn the stats off type:

net_channelstats 0

It's also a good idea to have a look at Game.log with a text editor when you're having problems. It's located in the %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Crysis Wars/MWLL/Client/ directory.