I am having problems connecting from the UK. I log in and click engage and it shows the cryptic black background and text but no loading bar then I get
fatal error
unable to initialize on-demand patching and connect to patch server: the connection was idle for too long


any ideas

Run the 'Trace Route' and 'Net Test' diagnostic applications that are described in this thread...
http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...d.php?t=225155

and post the results here... Without this information, its not even possible to make a guess and what the issues are.

I'm having the same problem, Started yesterday. Every time I would load a new map I would get booted from the game.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>tracert patchserver.crypticstudios.com

Tracing route to patchserver.crypticstudios.com [208.95.185.41]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 General failure.

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>

Results from Nettest: contacting nettest server..timed out

If this is the case, then you need to contact your ISP and tell them you can't get a connection the the Cryptic Studios IP address... If both test fail, its either...

• A Firewall Configuration Issue (that you have to fix)
• Or a ISP Route table issue (which only the ISP can fix...)

I found what is causing it

McAafee did an update that morning and for some reason has blocked the site.

What caused me to check that was it has been recently coming up with that it is a threat and asking conformation to connect to the site.

But the update blocked it totally.

The strange thing is that it goes through the initial screen and lets you click engage but sits with just the cryptic screen up but just doesent load any further