Mauz's Active Worlds Pages: AOL Help

Some AOL users have problems downloading the graphics in AW: all they see is black triangles on a colored background. Here are a few tricks that have helped some of them.

Autoconfigure Internet Connection

When you start AW for the first time, you see Internet Connection window (see right), where you are asked to choose your connection type: a) dial-up modem; b) LAN, DSL, Cable Modem or similar; or c) firewall or proxy server, and the proxy settings for it. There is also Autoconfigure button to define the connection type automatically.

Reinstall AW into a new folder and start it up. Choose Autoconfigure and AW should automatically find the type that works best for you. If it doesn't help, try the other options.

A way to get the connection dialog without reinstalling AW:
close AW; go to the folder where AW is installed; open aworld.ini in Notepad; delete the [connection] section (that header and the lines under it, like "type=0", up to the next section); then start AW again.

Choose Default ISP

If you use other Internet Service Providers besides AOL, but want to use AW via AOL, make AOL your default ISP. Try setting the proxy settings right for AOL (see below) and then running AW's Internet Connection Selection again (see above).

Fix Proxy Settings

Open My Computer, then Control Panel, then Internet Options. Choose Connections tab and click LAN Settings. Make sure that the settings in the Proxy server section are the ones that AOL has given you. For instance:

Address: ie3.proxy.aol.com Port: 80

Or trying clearing the checkmark from the "Use a proxy server" checkbox completely, if your ISP allows bypassing proxy.

Fix Internet Explorer

AW uses parts of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to download the graphics, so make sure that your Internet Explorer works right. Can you open for instance the address http://www.activeworlds.com/ in Internet Explorer and see everything on that page?

Repair Internet Explorer

Open My Computer, then Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. Select Microsoft Internet Explorer and click Add/Remove. Choose Repair Internet Explorer.

Upgrade Internet Explorer

Get the latest version of Internet Explorer from Microsoft Internet Explorer Downloads page and install it.

Turn Off Parental Controls

If you have Parental Controls for filtering web sites enabled on your AOL screen name, turn them off.

Contact Support

Send e-mail to AW's Technical Support at support@activeworlds.com, saying that you are using AOL and cannot download graphics in AW. They may want to know your IP address. They should reply in 48 hours.

Switch ISP...

AW works fine for most AOL users, but if it just does not start working for you, you could consider getting some other Internet Service Provider. Let's hope these download problems get fixed with some version of AOL or AW.

(I don't guarantee reliability or completeness of the information on this page.)

2002-01-02