Start Playing - Frequently Asked Questions
- I get a message saying to download bidwhist.jnlp. What should I do?
- I'm having problems starting the game. What should I do?
- I receive a message similar to "Unable to launch the specified application". What should I do?
- After I type in my username/password, the screen flashes and then does nothing.
- I get a message saying the server is unavailable. What should I do?
- I get a message saying the port is blocked. What should I do?
I get a message saying to download bidwhist.jnlp
If you get a message that says to download bidwhist.jnlp, then you are missing the association necessary between .jnlp files and JavaWebStart. To correct this you will need to manually create the association. While this can happen to anyone it is more common with Windows 2000 machines. Directions can vary slightly depending on your operating system.
- Open up Windows Explorer (Start->Programs->Windows Explorer)
- From the menu bar at the top select Tools -> Folder Options.
- Click on the File Types tab.
- Select JNLP (the list should be alphabetical order
- Press Change.
- Select javaws as the program to open JNLP files and click OK
- Close down all of windows and try to start the game again. (You may want to restart your computer)
For Step 3. - Starting the game
If you have confirmed that the first two steps went properly then you should get a login screen when you click on Start Playing. If you do not see this, then mostly likely you did not get past step 2 succesfully.
After I type in my username/password, the screen flashes and then does nothing.
This can happen after we release a new version of the game. If you have a normal incorrect login/password, you will always get an error message. Some ISP's cache (keep a copy) of our files on their servers and this causes our game to not properly update on your computer. To resolve, reload the file directly from our home page and step 3 at www.bidwhist.com.
I receive a message similar to "Unable to launch the specified application".
This is frequently a problem with your browser's cache. Try clearing your browser's cache. If you have Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP go to Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Delete Files. You can then clear your temporary Internet files. Please close and restart your browser. Other browsers might differ slightly but you want the cache or temporary Internet files. Lastly reload the game file directly from our home page and step 3 at www.bidwhist.com.
I get an error message that says:
If this is the problem then you should check different items for connectivity.
1. Check to make sure that there's not a problem with the game. Whenever possible if the site is expected to be down for longer than half an hour we will post a message on the homepage for www.bidwhist.com. If you can not reach www.bidwhist.com, then it is likely that the game is also down.
2. Check to make sure that you have a connection to the web. If you can read this page then you are connected to the web.
3. Make sure that your firewall allows port 1234 to access the web. This is very important.
4. Some users have reported problems starting the game when Yahoo Parental controls are on. The Parental controls conflict with Java and thus the game does not start properly. If you can not get the Java Web Start program to start then it is likely this conflict is the problem. You can goto Start -> Programs to Java Web Start. A program should open and stay open. If it just flashes a couple of times then you have this conflict. You can try a few things. a. Be sure to do the install of Java with the controls off. Make sure you have the latest version of Parental controls running (this may or may not help). b) When you want to play the game turn off the controls and then restart them after you are done.
I get an error message that says:
Sometimes browsing the web through a proxy, standard for many work environments, can cause this error. If your browser uses a proxy, try either of the following.
1. Turn off the proxy option in your web browser.
2. Install OpenWebStart (OWS). Then open the Open Web Start Settings utility and select Network/ Direct Connection. Be sure to "open with" OWS, avoiding any pre-existing Java Web Start versions, when clicking/opening a JNLP file or link.
3. Keep your existing Java/JavaWebStart installation and select Network Settings/ Direct connection after opening the Java Control Panel (by Oracle).
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