Ryzom: Error Code 4 Fix

And so it seems ..

Most of the Australian ISP's use Transparent Proxies (http://www1.optusnet.com.au/helpdesk/techtips/faqproxy.html), along with some European and Asian ones also.
When running nel_launcher.exe, the user is given a cryptic Error Code 4 message, for which there is currently no official patch/fix for.

However, fear not, for there is indeed a way to get around it.

STEP-BY-STEP:
1) Download and install ProxyCap (http://proxylabs.netwu.com/download.html).

2) Run ProxyCap and open the preferences window.
If ProxyCap hasn't opened a window on-screen, right click on the tray icon (right of the task bar) and click Preferences.

3) Click Miscellaneous on the left of the preferences window and turn off start ProxyCap on Windows Start.

4) Now click Rules on the left and click the NEW rule button (dotted rectangle to the right of the heading "Edit Tunneling Rules").

5) Rule Type should be "Tunnel through proxy" and leave proxy as "Default".
Click "Specify" and choose "nel_launcher.exe" from your Ryzom directory.
Destination IP Range and Port Range should be set to "Not restricted"
respectively and click OK.

6) Choose a stable proxy from a Proxy/Socks website such as:
http://www.aliveproxy.com/socks5-list/ (recommended) http://www.atomintersoft.com/products/alive-proxy/socks5-list/
It is best to find one with a high "Up time" and one that is closest to you.
The current one I am using is a private proxy but for those who strive to be lazy, try 24.1.202.175 on port 3331 (a proxy Tristan of atys.ryzom.com is using).

7) Click Proxies in the left panel, then click "New" (the first icon on the right of "Manage your Proxies" in the Proxies panel).
Proxy Type should be set to "Socks v5" (or v4 if you're using a v4 SOCKS server). Address put in the IP, Port (the port ..).
Click OK.
Make sure your entry has a "(default)" next to it, if it doesn't, highlight your entry and click the "D" button (top right).
Click OK.

8) Run the ryzom shortcut, "Play Ryzom", or the "nel_launcher.exe"
executable directly. Enter your login and password and click LOGIN.

IF your proxy is VALID and working you will receive a list of servers.
Click a server (such as Windermeer) then click CONNECT.
It will now start patching.

IF your patching freezes (this happened to me) as you realize it is no longer downloading anymore bytes off the server, fear not, click QUIT and restart nel_launcher.exe. Due to my first proxy that I chose to use being unstable, I had this problem. Others haven't. Experiment and see.
Total time of patching took me 10 hours, due to constant Proxy timeouts.

IF your proxy is NOT VALID you will receive an error message, such as:
Error Code 1, amongst other things.
Sometimes your proxy may be temporarily timing out and your client giving you the Error Code 1 message, so click LOGIN a few times. If this does not help, the Proxy/SOCKS Server you chose is not working correctly or in most cases, requires authentication.

9) After your system has been patched it will run the client executable.
As it does this quickly right click the ProxyCap tray icon and click "Exit".
You can now play the game without a Proxy/SOCKS.

IMPORTANT: If your game restarts or if you close Ryzom and re-open Ryzom, you must open ProxyCap each time in order to connect to the login server and CHOOSE your game server (ie. Windermeer).
Only ONCE you click CONNECT and your system is in the process of launching your client that you can THEN and ONLY THEN close ProxyCap.

LAST WORDS:
I know that it is an annoying process (just be PATIENT), I have written about this to the Ryzom Dev Team already, which according to one of their DevChat workers "has been forwarded to the Dev Team" already.
We can only hope that once this game is released that they will either change the port from port 80 to another port not proxied or that they release a patch for all people behind Transparent Proxies, which would be just as dirty as this tutorial :)