First things first, I did not write this guide. I was asked to place this here to better help anyone having trouble. Some have luck if they tried to open Dice Escape 3 times then went to open another of the Shockwave Games like Hannah and The Pirate Caves for instance.
Some other steps you might want to take are listed below.
STEP ONE: Try Again
Just open and close the game window until it finally works. If it still doesn't work after about three tries, move on to the next step.
STEP TWO: DGS Error?
If you get a DGS Error, it is most likely the fault of neopets.com. Although, this theory has never been proven. Wait a few hours or a day, and if you still get the error, move on to step three.
STEP FOUR: Do you have the latest version of Shockwave Player?
Download the latest version of (you need an account to see links). Beware of any offers to download a free toolbar or security scan. I suspect them to be safe, since they are from Adobe, but they are an annoyance.
Try opening HTPC or any other Shockwave game again. If still nothing, go to step five.
This is known to work in every browser except Internet Explorer 9.
If it still doesn't work, see the next step.
STEP SIX: Try clearing your browser's cache
Your browser saves a cache for many web pages in its attempt to cut back on loading times. Some of our users have found that clearing their cache enables them to play HATPC again.
To clear your cache in Chrome, click on the wrench icon at the top-right corner of the screen. Then click on "Options". An Options window will open up. Click on the tab called "Under the Hood". Right under the "Privacy" heading, click on the button that says "Clear Browsing Data...". Another window will open. In this window, uncheck everything except for "Empty the cache". Under "Clear data from this period:", select "Everything". And finally, click the button "Clear browsing data".
To clear your cache in Safari, click on the gear icon at the top-right corner of the screen, and click on "Reset Safari...". A window will open. uncheck everything except for "Empty the cache". Then hit the "Reset" button.
Try to open any Shockwave game again.
If even that doesn't work, move onto the next step.
STEP SEVEN: Maybe it's not your fault
There have been times in the past when HATPC wouldn't work for anyone because something would go wrong with neopets.com's game servers. This is similar to the DGS Error problem in Step Two, but neopets is clever, always finding better ways of screwing up HATPC. While in the past, the game used to go down occasionally, it seems very rare these days. However, the possibility is still there. To make sure if something is only happening to you, try asking other neopets players if they are having any difficulties opening HATPC. If they are having the same problems as you, then it's possible that something's temporarily gone wrong with the game. If they say they have no problem, ask what browser they are using to play the Shockwave game.
STEP EIGHT: Try downloading someone else's cache
We've now moved on to a daring step. We will now attempt to get HATPC to work for you by downloading almost 290 MB 755 KB of someone else's cache so that HATPC will always work for you. However, this cache is for Google Chrome only, so if you do not have it, (you need an account to see links) it. However, Chrome must be closed while you follow these steps.
This method was developed when I noticed that there was something in my cache that allowed HATPC to work for me, and when the cache was cleared, it no longer worked. Luckily, I saved a backup of my cache, and I tried to find out what file was in there that was allowing HATPC to work. However, because I did not know what I was doing, removing things from the cache made it very unstable, as Chrome would sense errors and automatically change things to fix them. Therefore, I was not able to reduce the file size of the overall cache that you must download.
Also, I am sorry I cannot provide any support for non-Windows users.
Here are the steps to successfully replace your cache with mine:
If on Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
If on Windows XP, go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
The [USERNAME] represents the name of the user that you are currently logged into on your computer. There will be a folder named after that user name.
If you are having trouble finding some of these folder, it may be because they are hidden. Click on the Start menu at the very bottom-left corner of the screen and type in "folder options" into the search. Click on the "Folder Options" program that comes up. Click on the "View" tab, then look under the group of options under "Hidden files and folder" and select the option to "Show hidden files and folders". Now try again to find the above folder locations.
Delete the following folders entirely:
Cache
Media Cache
(if you don't want to lose your caches, for whatever reason, you may want to just rename those folders in case you want to keep a backup).
Take the two folders inside that zip file and extract them to your "Default" folder, mentioned in the first step. Make sure that the Cache and Media Cache folders within the zip file are placed directly into the Default folder. You do not want them to be inside a new folder (which may be automatically called "ChromeHATPCcache").
Now that you have successfully replaced your cache, try to play HATPC again.
