Game errors when downloading

We've had a few reports of the game not loading (staying on 0% at the downloads screen). We've identified several underlying causes for this and the solutions are as follows
These steps can also help to fix other issues, if you've been sent this guide, please don't dismiss it because the title doesn't match your issue.


This issue is an example of one possible error you might see, there's various similar errors though for which the fix can be found below.

Possible causes and their solutions

Firstly, Try Again

The first and foremost approach to fixing this issue is the good old "give it another try". But before we go ahead and turn it off and on again, let's kill two birds with one stone and remove the old files, removing the possibility of any conflicts.

(windows instructions)
Close the game
Navigate to the following folder in your file explorer: %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Unity\B-Side Games_Chainmonsters
Select all the files/folders in that directory (if any) with CTRL+A, then delete them.
Navigate to this folder in your file explorer: %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\B-Side Games\Chainmonsters
Once again, select all files/folders with CTRL+A and delete them too.
Head to the Epic Games Store, uninstall and re-install the game.

Anti-virus

The most common cause is the use of anti-virus software.
Many Anti-virus software (avast, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Norton, etc...) have the ability to block web services from applications which are not known to them.
If you are running any anti-virus software (not just those listed above) it's worth exiting them and attempting to restart Chainmonsters to see if the issue still occurs.
If it does not occur, we suggest adding exclusion rules in to your anti-virus software.
Here's some guides on how to do that:
Avast: https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Antivirus-scan-exclusions
Malwarebytes https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039024133-Exclude-detections-in-Malwarebytes-for-Windows-v3
McAfee https://service.mcafee.com/?page=shell&shell=article-view&articleId=TS102056
Norton https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v3672136
if you're having issues or your anti-virus is not listed above, you're more than welcome to start a chat with us for support!

No anti-virus software is perfect. All of them produce what are called "false positives". This means they sometimes mark good, honest software as potentially unwanted.

Ad Blockers

The next very common cause of this error is the use of ad blockers. To be clear, we don't use any adverts in our products, but several ad blockers will block servers that we use to deliver our content.
If you use any adblocker we suggest disabling it and restarting Chainmonsters to see if this resolves the issue. If it does, try to add exceptions in to your adblockers to allow Chainmonsters to connect to our servers.
Some common ad-blockers that cause these issues:
Hosts file modifications
AdAway for android
Pi-Hole

Firewalls

Another somewhat common cause is firewalls. Firewalls are used to block certain ports, protocols, and applications from accessing other networks. Most every device by default has a firewall and it is enabled. Whereas usually default firewalls wouldn't cause this behaviour it cannot be ruled out.
The use of third party firewalls (Glasswire, Pi-Hole, SolarWinds, etc...) are much more likely to cause this issue. It is recommended that you deactivate them and try to relaunch Chainmonsters to see if this issue is resolved.

VPN/Proxy

A very common cause for those trying to connect from countries outside of the Americas/Europe. The use of VPNs and Proxies are common to circumvent restrictions and sometimes produce better gameplay performance. However many of these services come with inbuilt firewalls/security protocols which can cause more issues while playing the game.
Please if you're connecting with a VPN/Proxy, please try to connect without it to see if the issue still occurs.

DNS

Everyone has a DNS (Domain Name Server) even if they don't know about it. More often than not this is either defined by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or your router/modem.
DNS' are vital to connect to internet services, but many of them have imposing restrictions in place, especially those from an ISP.
to circumvent these possible issues we recommend trying another DNS server which you can manually set.
There's several free DNS options, here's just some of them which don't have restrictions against our game-servers:
Cloudflare - 1.1.1.1
Google 8.8.8.8
Quad9 9.9.9.9
Google's Public DNS documentation has great guides on how to set a custom DNS. Of course they recommend their own DNS (8.8.8.8/4.4.8.8) but you can change this out for any you'd like.
DNS Guide - Windows: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using#windows
DNS Guide - MacOS: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using#macos
DNS Guide - Linux: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using#linux
DNS Guide - IOS: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using#ios
DNS Guide - Android: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using#android

Outside Causes

One thing that you may have less control over is restrictions imposed by someone else, be that your Internet Service Provider, your network owner (colleges, dorms, etc), or even your country. There's little we can do in these cases other than suggest you reach out to however is imposing the restrictions and ask they be removed.

Still not working?

If you're still having this issue and you've tried all the above, please start a chat with us so we can further support you.

Updated on: 22/03/2023