Hey,

This message is mostly directed at whoever is in charge of managing the character XML / website.

I have figured out the problem with why Valor's character viewer is not working.

It isn't a problem on our part at all, it has something to do with Dungeon Runners not allowing access to the new server we are on (phpwebhosting.com).

I have ran several tests this morning, using the fopen php commands. I tested several sites including google, starwars.com, and more, and the only site which does NOT work for us (says the connection "timed out") is Dungeon Runners. I had hoped that this was just an issue with not being able to read the XML page because it didn't have the .xml extension on it, but it turns out that we can't open ANY of the Dungeon Runners site, including simply http://www.dungeonrunners.com.

My only guess is that it is something to do with where you guys are located, or perhaps your site is blocking connections from us for some reason.

If someone could please look into this, I would much appreciate it. I'd really like to get our character viewer back up as soon as possible, it's already been 3 weeks.


Also, I have a second opinion to back up my claims. I had asked our hosting company to look into the problem as well, and after a few days, they told me that it looked like Dungeon Runners was blocking our attempt to communicate with their server. I ruled it off at the time, but now after my own tests I am inclined to believe that they were right.

I really appreciate your time guys, thank you!

- Theck

Also, if it will aid you in troubleshooting:

http://www.valor-guild.net/test4.php

It is a file open testing center. Basically, I put 4 testing sites in there (Google, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Dungeon Runners) [Random I know :P]. If our server is able to access the site, the text is displayed in green. If not, the page will be take about a minute to load and then display which site it was not able to open in red (in this case, the first 3 load fine and DR doesn't - it will tell you that after a minute of loading)

This happened to me back in, oh, December I believe. I deserved it at the time thanks to my caching code going bonkers, so my guess is the host you're on was acting up somehow.

The easy (temporary) solution is to put a proxy (very easy in php) on another host you control, for instance your old webhost, or another domain you own. Then just change the XML url you're loading to go through your proxy and it should work.

Also, open a support ticket with NCSoft, this is the long-term, correct fix. It took them a little bit to get back to me, but maybe if you're lucky Anson or Stephen is on the prowl tonight and will see your thread.

If the proxy's on the same server you're not changing anything. But I'll get ahold of ya to discuss this.

/me points

See Theck? I told ya Anson (Ok, sure, I said Anson, or Stephen, but I'll claim a correct answer here) was the real answer! Too bad you can't open a support ticket with him specifically, eh?

A fix should be coming later today. I may need additional information from you (via PM) to complete it though. Again, I'm sorry this has been a problem.

/me bets on:

Username, password, mother's maiden name, social security number, uh... lemme see... I think I had to give him my bank account number as well. Yup that was about it!

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Just in case anyone reading this while under the influence of mind-altering narcotics I'd like to point out that neither Anson nor any other member of of NCSoft has ever asked me for that information, nor would they ever. Unless one became a rogue ninja and attempted world domination. In which case its best to go along with Crick--- erm.... "them".

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OK, I've gotten a report that the networking changes have been applied. When I visit http://www.valor-guild.net/test4.php to make sure your site can hit ours, it loads quickly but doesn't claim to have opened http://www.dungeonrunners.com/ and reports a call to an undefined method. I'm hoping that means the test is successful, but the test script had a bug in it?

lmao, I think so Point is that it loaded super fast, thanks mate - Will try it out later