DorkNet/docs/troubleshooting.md

Troubleshooting

If your symptom isn't here, check the FAQ and then open an issue with: your OS, DorkNet version, server log (Settings → Send logs to clipboard), and the exact steps that triggered the problem.

Client / patcher

"Signature verification failed" on launch

The image-signing public key baked into the patched global-metadata.dat doesn't match the private key on the server. Repair from the Patch tab — this re-fetches the server's current pubkey before patching.

"Check your internet connection" loop at startup

The watch can't reach the server URL. Verify:

1. The host string in dorknet-clientmod.json matches the server's public URL (tunnel URL for Easy mode).
2. The server responds to https://<host>/healthz with 200 OK from the same machine the client runs on.
3. No corporate proxy / DNS filter is intercepting *.trycloudflare.com.

Black screen after the loading bar fills

The watch authenticated, joined Photon, but couldn't download the room data blob. Look in MelonLoader's Latest.log for [DownloadRoomDataBlobCoroutine] lines — the URL there tells you which asset the server failed to serve.

Save doesn't persist, MakerPen objects disappear after reload

Known issue with stale LocalRoomScene.DataBlobName. The client mod's SetRoomDataBlobName_Prefix hijack should handle this — verify it's firing in MelonLoader's log. If not, the mod failed to load; check that Mods\DorkNet.ClientMod.dll is present and not blocked by Windows.

Server

[boot] migrations failed

The schema patch SQL errored. Most likely cause: an existing column whose type doesn't match what we're trying to add. Look at the exact failure in the log; if it's a Postgres cannot alter type error, the prior column type needs a manual migration before DorkNet starts.

Photon CustomAuth returns 401

Either:

• The Photon AppId in appsettings doesn't match the AppId baked into the patched client. They MUST match.
• The user logging in doesn't have a row in the Players table — the auth flow expects userid to be a real account.

Room chat doesn't send

Run the client with SaveDebugMod enabled (or watch MelonLoader's log) and look for the [chat-trace] lines. The pipeline is:

SendChatEmote → RemoveInvalidCharactersFromMessage → PurifyString HTTP
              → ProcessNewChatMessageReceived → Photon RPC

If any trace line is missing, that's where it died. The two most common fixes:

• [chat-fix] CanLocalPlayerChat returned false: the account is flagged as a Junior with chat disabled. Force-true via the client mod (default behavior) or fix it server-side in admin.
• Received malformed RecNet response: the /api/sanitize/v1 endpoint returned the wrong shape. Should be a bare JSON-quoted string. See SanitizeController.cs.

Easy app

"Cloudflared exited unexpectedly"

The bundled cloudflared.exe couldn't start. Most likely a Windows Defender false-positive — check Defender's quarantine. If you find a cleaner alternative tunnel provider, open an issue; we've been looking for one.

Patch button is greyed out

DorkNet didn't find a Rec Room install at the path you selected. Make sure you pointed at the folder containing Recroom_Release.exe, not the exe itself, and that Recroom_Release_Data/ exists alongside.

Mode switch lost my server data

Switching from Host mode → Join mode preserves the SQLite database; it just stops auto-starting the server. Switch back to Host mode and your players / rooms / images are still there.

If the data really is gone, check %APPDATA%\DorkNet\dorknet.db — that file is the entire host-side state, easy to copy elsewhere as a backup.