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Troubleshooting
Find your problem below. In nearly every case, start with these three:
- Look at the Status card on the launcher's Play screen and press the button under anything red. (Status Checks)
- Press Fix everything, with the game closed.
- Run the connection test: Connection test under the Status card. (how to read it)
If it's still wrong, send a report from the launcher right after it happens: the server's admins see your logs next to what the server saw.
Jump to: The launcher · Setting up · Starting the game · Signing in · Joining and hosting · Friends and invites · During a match · Saves and unlocks
- Windows "protected your PC": More info › Run anyway.
- It vanished after downloading, or after an update: your antivirus quarantined it. Restore it and add an exclusion: Antivirus Warnings.
- "The launcher couldn't open its window": it needs working graphics drivers. Update your graphics driver; in a virtual machine, turn on 3D acceleration.
Resize the window, or press Ctrl + / Ctrl − (Ctrl 0 resets), or use Settings › Display. F11 toggles full screen.
You're probably switching between this launcher and the original 5th Echelon launcher: both keep their settings in the game's uplay.toml, and each resets the other's. Use only this one. See Coming from 5th Echelon.
The launcher looks in Steam, Ubisoft Connect and the usual folders on every drive. If your copy is elsewhere, press Choose folder… and pick the folder that contains Blacklist_game.exe or Blacklist_DX11_game.exe. That's usually:
…\steamapps\common\Splinter Cell Blacklist\src\SYSTEM
…\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Splinter Cell Blacklist\src\SYSTEM
"<folder> doesn't contain Splinter Cell: Blacklist" means it's the wrong folder: go into src\SYSTEM.
GOG and Epic copies aren't detected automatically; choose their folder by hand.
The game's .exe isn't one the client recognises, usually because it was modified. Press Try to identify. If that fails:
- Verify the game's files: Steam › right-click the game › Properties › Installed Files › Verify integrity of game files (or the same in Ubisoft Connect).
- Check again. Still unsupported? Open an issue with the hash the launcher shows.
The activity bar at the bottom says why. The usual ones:
| It says | Fix |
|---|---|
| "…" isn't an address this PC can find | A typo, or your internet is down. Check the address |
| … didn't answer in time | The server is restarting or down, or your connection is having trouble. Check your internet connection and try again in a minute, or try another server |
| … doesn't answer on port … | The server is down or restarting. Try another server, or wait a few minutes |
| … is N characters, and the game takes at most 27 | Use the server's IP address, or ask its operator for a shorter name |
| Close Splinter Cell: Blacklist first | Quit the game, then Try again |
| uplay_r1_loader.dll is missing from the game folder | Verify the game's files in Steam or Ubisoft Connect, then Try again |
| <server> can't find accounts by player identity | The server runs an old version. Ask its operator to update it |
All of them: Error Messages.
The game isn't using the 5th Echelon client. Check:
- the Status card says 5th Echelon installed (if not, press Install or Fix everything);
- Settings › Game shows the copy you actually play, if you have more than one;
- your antivirus didn't remove the DLL (Antivirus Warnings).
On a CPU with more than 16 threads, add the Steam launch option: CPUs with more than 16 threads.
Answer the diagnostics question first (it appears once, the first time you open 0.4.2 or later). Either answer is fine. See Getting Started.
The game's .exe is set to Run this program as an administrator (its Properties › Compatibility), and launchers before 0.4.5 couldn't start it that way. 0.4.5 starts it as administrator itself, and Windows asks first. To stop that question, untick the setting on Blacklist_DX11_game.exe and Blacklist_game.exe (also under Change settings for all users).
An update brought new game options: choose them in the New game options window (either way is fine). See Launcher Settings › Game.
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| The server address is too long for the game | Use the server's IP address, or a name of at most 27 characters |
| Original library not found / uplay_r1_loader.orig.dll is invalid | The game's original DLL is missing or wrong. Verify the game's files in Steam or Ubisoft Connect, then Fix everything |
| Config couldn't be loaded |
uplay.toml in the game folder is damaged. Press Fix everything; the launcher keeps a damaged file as uplay.toml.broken and writes a new one |
- On a laptop, or a keyboard without a function row: the top row usually controls brightness or volume. Press Fn+F5, or turn on Fn Lock (often Fn+Esc) so the keys act as F1 to F12.
- Keyboards with an F Lock key: turn it on.
- Or choose another key: Settings › Game › In-game overlay, opened with (F1 to F12, Insert, Home, End, Page Up or Down, Pause, Scroll Lock or `).
- The game must be in front: the key doesn't open the overlay while another window (a browser over a windowed game, say) has focus.
- Still nothing: check In-game overlay, opened with is on in Settings › Game, then restart the game. A notice in the corner when the game signs in (Press F5 for friends, invites and match settings) shows the overlay is running.
- No notice at all, whatever key: the overlay didn't start. On some PCs DirectX 11 refuses the small test device the overlay hooks in with; from 0.4.6 it's asked for in four ways, so update first. If it still doesn't come up, the game's log says why (DirectX 11 wouldn't make the device the overlay hooks through): send a report while the game is running.
Before 0.4.5, on DirectX 9 a busy panel (a 4K screen, a high scale) could overrun the overlay's drawing buffer: it vanished while still open and holding your keys (F5 or Esc closes it). 0.4.5 fixes it; on an older version, switch to DirectX 11 in Settings › Game.
Quit the game, open the launcher and press Fix everything, then start the game again.
The server stopped answering. Usually it's restarting for an update, and the game reconnects by itself within a minute or two. If it's down for booked maintenance, the launcher's notice under Play says when it's back, and offers a server that's up (Maintenance). If it lasts:
- check the server shows as online in the launcher's server menu;
- switch to another server if it doesn't;
- check your own internet connection.
On a busy server running 0.4.6, it could also come and go with Couldn't load friends and chat that never arrived: the server kept everyone's calls waiting behind chat. 0.4.7 fixed it, and servers update by themselves.
The server needs a newer version: press Update. See Updates.
- Account refused: press Connect (or Fix everything); your identity signs you in again.
- Banned on this server: the check says for how long and why. Ask that server's admins, or play on another server.
- Couldn't check the account: the detail says why. Too many failed logins; wait 10 minutes before trying again: wait, then Check again. Forgot your password? The server's admins can reset it (on the community network, through the launcher's Support page).
Go through these in order:
- Same server? You must be on the same server. Check the server card on both PCs. A friend on another server shows in your Friends card with Join.
- Same game data? If the join fails with "a different version of the game" or "data version mismatch", one of you has a mod or a changed game file. See below.
- Same launcher version? Both press Check for updates in Settings › About.
-
Is the host reachable? On the host's PC, close the game and run the connection test. Look at How players reach this PC:
- Direct or Through the server's relay: fine.
- Direct, router port opened …, but the server's packet still didn't arrive: set Settings › Network › Internet play to Always through the server, then try again.
- A VPN on? A VPN that sends all traffic through it (NordVPN and the like) works but goes through the relay. Turn it off while you play if you can, and Check again.
- Two PCs on one home connection? Before 0.4.5 the server could give the second game the first one's address, and joins between the two failed. 0.4.5 (on the server too) gives each game its own; until then, turning on UPnP on the router helps.
-
Firewall software other than Windows' own (in a security suite, say) may block the game's UDP traffic. Allow
Blacklist_DX11_game.exe(orBlacklist_game.exe), or test with Always through the server. - Try the other way round: let the other player host.
Still failing? Both of you send a report straight away (Settings › Feedback › Send feedback), and give the time with your time zone in the issue.
The server isn't hearing from your game, so matches with other players won't connect. Usually a firewall or antivirus is blocking the game's traffic to the server: allow Blacklist_DX11_game.exe (or Blacklist_game.exe) in it. The banner says why, and goes away by itself once the server hears from the game again. If it lasts, restart the game. See The In-Game Overlay.
Players whose game data differs can't join each other. It's almost always a mod: a loose PEC.ini in src\SYSTEM (the balaclava mod, say), or another changed file. The Status card says Your game data is modified when it spots it.
- Steam and Ubisoft Connect copies, in any language, have the same data and play together.
- Players who all have the same mod play together fine.
- To play with everyone: remove the mod (or rename its file), or verify the game's files, then start the game again.
- The game doesn't always say it's the mod: sometimes a join just fails. From 0.4.5 (on the server) the overlay compares both games' data and says Couldn't join: different game data, and whose game has the mod.
- Matchmaking only finds players on the same server. The server menu shows how many are online on each; pick a busier one, or arrange a time with friends.
- Private matches are never offered to matchmaking, by design.
- For a game with a friend, use an invite instead.
- Each mode is its own search: the game only finds matches of the mode you picked (Blacklist, Classic, Team Deathmatch…). From 0.4.6 the overlay says when nobody hosts yours but someone hosts another: Nobody is hosting <mode> right now, and which mode is open.
- Nobody joins the lobby you're hosting: others find it when they search; wait a few minutes, or invite friends.
Before 0.4.6, a search could be handed a match that was already being played. The host's game doesn't let anyone in mid-match, and the searching game waited on it for good. One match under way could block everyone searching its mode until it ended. With your server on 0.4.6, a match a join was just turned away from is left out of searches for a while, so a search finds an open match, or finds nothing and hosts a lobby the next player joins.
On an older server: close the game, then host a match yourself from the menu.
Press F5 › Match, while you're in the lobby, before the match starts: Players needed to start and Most players. For example, co-op with more than two, or Spies vs Mercs with fewer than four. See The In-Game Overlay.
- Both on the same server?
- On friends-only servers (all community servers), only friends can invite: add each other first.
- Invites last 30 seconds; send another.
- "Couldn't invite …. Host or join a match first": the inviter must be in a lobby or match.
- A block (either way) stops invites.
You need to be on the same server to find each other. Agree on a server, then search again. Once you're friends, they follow you to every server of the network.
It updates by itself within a short while; if it doesn't, go back to the game's online menu, or restart the game.
The overlay marks them Not your friend <name> from <server>: another player on a server outside your network. Don't accept invites from them thinking it's your friend.
- Check your ping: the overlay's Server tab (F5) shows your game's round trip to the server, e.g. 44 ms to the server.
- Pick the closest server (lowest ping) in the server menu, unless your friends are elsewhere.
- A VPN on? Turn it off while you play.
- Relayed? The overlay's Server tab says Through the server's relay. That adds a little delay. Turning UPnP on in your router's settings usually makes it direct.
- Wi-Fi? A cable helps.
- Remember that matches run between the players: the host's connection matters most. Let the player with the best connection host.
- Lost the 5th Echelon server during play is usually a server restarting for an update; it reconnects by itself. The launcher's notice under the launch bar says when your server updates, or goes down for maintenance, and the overlay warns 10 minutes before maintenance.
- If it happens often, send a report right after it happens.
They need rank 5. Press Raise to rank 5 (or Set up a save) in the Status card, or Settings › Save game › New rank 5 save…. See Save Games.
The setup imports your Ubisoft Connect save only if you have no 5th Echelon save yet. Use Settings › Save game › Import from Ubisoft Connect (or Import a save file… and pick its 1.save). Your current save is backed up first.
- Error Messages: look up the exact message.
- Reporting a Problem: send your logs and open an issue.
- The Discords, where other players can help.
5th Echelon Enhanced · a fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Ubisoft · Releases · Issues · Something wrong on this page? Open an issue.