Can't play as my character

i have recently got a new PC, so i loaded up UT2004 and put in my username and password, allong with my characters name ((>>F8_AL<<)). it will not let me play as my character, and my name appears as a number.

i am really anoyed, as i was level 117, and i fear it may all be lost. i have three passwords that i use, and i have tried all these to be sure, and it still wont work.

However, yesterday i loaded DC up and it said "this name is allready in use, please choose another", so i put my name in again and it worked. strangely, i did exactly the same again today and it wont work?!?! i am really upset to have lost all my hard work on that character. please can someone help!?!?!

ok i now know that my password and stuff are correct, as i just managed to get into DC as my character, but it still asks me every time i play to enter a new character name. if i enter the name before i spawn, i play as me, if not i play as a random number.

i have a feeling that when i was trying to get the correct password, i put ((>>F8_AL<<)) in all the time when it asked for a new name, so i dont no if this has somehow messed up the game andamkes it think im not the real ((>>F8_AL<<)). its real anoying anyways.

recent update does not like special characters (See Paradoxs' post)

so its something to do with this subclasses thing? where is Paradox's post no it? i have managed to get on a numebr of times now but i can still only get on if i manage to type my name in before i spawn, if not im a number.

I think the two are unconnected. Paradox used weird 2-byte characters, which cause the whole player stats file to convert to double character,which doubles it's size and causes Druid huge problems.
So when Druid restarts, he converts the log back to single character ( UTF16 back to UTF8 ), which means Paradox's names change.
This does not apply to "normal" characters like < and (, so is a different problem to what F8_AL is experiencing.

If you get assigned a number, it is normally because it doesn't believe you are the person who created the character. It normally does this by the CD-key used. So provided you are using the same CD key, there should be no problem. So why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, I don't know.

I know nothing about the latest build or subclasses which will affect this situation.

But if you start UT2004, go into settings and set your character name, then join, everything is ok?

i am using the same CD key as before, allong with the same user name and password. when i load up DC, it ALLWAYS asks me to type a new name in. if i manage to type my name in before i spawn, i am my normal character, if i spawn before writing in my name, i am a number.

strangely, i have hust changed my player charcter model from "god horus", which is not a character from the original UT2004 game, and reverted to a model from the actual game. it now seems to let me play without asking for my name. great news! but seems strange that that was stopping me play.

F8_AL wrote:

strangely, i have hust changed my player charcter model from "god horus", which is not a character from the original UT2004 game, and reverted to a model from the actual game. it now seems to let me play without asking for my name. great news! but seems strange that that was stopping me play.

Some of the skins do not work on our server, expecially if they are designed for servers that use extreme mods. If you were able to sign on without a problem using the default "Jacob" skin, then the issue is with the "Horus" skin and not your other information.

Another thing folks should do regularly... You should regularly backup the .ini files from C:\UT2004\System (or your equivalent of it) and save them some place safe. This allows you to get back your key bindings and other settings, as well as your CD key back (should you not be able to find or read your CD key sticker) at a later date.

hmmmmm

I must be getting old I did not even think of doing that!