This is a repost of a post I made on another server where I play. It will eliminate the lag time as the gamespy program tries to find and authenticate the server that previously supplied gamespy's chart service, which is no longer available.
Please practice safe computing and back up your hosts folder, saving it somewhere obvious before attempting this fix.
It looks wordy, but it boils down to adding a single line to a write-protected file.
Postby Pigron ยป Fri Aug 15, 2014 1:21 pm
Just when we thought Gamespy could not mess us up any worse, they have dropped support for their Peer Chat server.
Now if you have a slow processor, the game can hang as long as two or three minutes as soon as you clicK "Join Internet Game" in multiplayer.
Afterwards you get the Can't Connect Nick error, which can be cancelled and then you proceed. You will also get this delay every time you log out form any server.
The gamespy interface is hanging as it tries to log on to the chat server which is no longer there.
Fortunately, there is a workaround that involves placing a single line in your hosts folder.
In Windows, various flavours, it should be located in C:\Windows\system32\etc
Run your favorite editor, like wordpad "As administrator" (hosts is a write protected hidden file) and use it to open the hosts file located in the above folder.
For step by step instructions on how to do that, try this link:
helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file
(New to the forums, I cannot post a hyperlink - Pigron )
Once you are able to edit the hosts file you want to insert this line:
127.0.0.1 peerchat.gamespy.com # To speed up the "Try another nick" delay when joining an NWN online game
The note after the # is not necessary, but reminds you why the line is there if you ever need to edit the file again.
If you are running a linux OS, navigate back from your home directory to root. Find the folder in the GUI window called etc. Right click on the folder and open a terminal at that location.
Your terminal command prompt should be: [yourcomputername] /etc $
Enter the following line:
sudo gedit hosts
Enter your administrator password when prompted. gedit will then launch in a new window.
Again, add the line
127.0.0.1 peerchat.gamespy.com # To speed up the "Try another nick" delay when joining an NWN online game
Now the hang time will go away, but you will still have to cancel the error message.
I hope this helps. It was just the trick for me.