For a player friendly version of the troubleshooting guide visit https://www.middleearthgames.com/joverseer-troubleshooting/

The more technical version remains below

The jOverseer screen looks corrupt.

There have been some reports that specific versions of nVidia graphics drivers on Windows cause problems.

The symptoms are odd drawing problems, like multiple overlapping frames.

Try starting jOverseer without Direct3D usage for Java2D drawing.

Version 1.18.8 rejigs the joverseer.bat file so that you can turn on the workaround, either by

a) supplying a parameter to the jOverseer.bat file … so that the shortcut hopefully doesn’t get overwritten during an update.

b) checks for the presence of the file ‘DontUse3D.txt’ in the same directory as joverseer. This file is not in the list of files updated, so should persist between updates/re-installs. You will need admin permissions to create the file. The contents of the file doesn’t matter.

The drawing bug came back after an update!

1. We currently don’t have a way to detect the graphics glitch without human eyeballs… and we’re not sure how to agravate it.
2. At update time, we don’t know that you are using the workaround, so we can’t re-implement it. That’s why the update process may reset you back to the broken behaviour.
3. The joverseer.exe java options are not explicitly tied to the same options in the *.bat files, so they may be out of step. And sometimes we’ve had the no3D options being set by default.

previous instructions using joverseer-no3D.bat

Use the batchfile joverseer-no3D.bat:

update or install 1.16.19 or later. right mouse click on jOverseer shortcut on the desktop, select properties, change the Target to "C:\Program Files (x86)\JOverseer\joverseer-no3D.bat" press Apply and OK buttons. double clicking on the joverseer Icon will startup without the 3d options.

references:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/55070/19038-drivers-cause-distorted-video-in-java-apps/ https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/2d/flags.html

How do I find out which version of jOverseer I have running?

When jOverseer is running, select the Menu item 'Help' and then 'About'. The keyboard shorcut is Alt-H, A . The about box shows the version, as something like Version: 1.16.2

Click 'OK' or close the about box to continue.

I updated jOverseer but it seems java no longer works.

If you get a dialog window complaining about an unsupported java version and a number like 51 or 52. You have an old version of java which is no longer receiving security updates.

If you install JOverseer from the installer files (about 40MB size) then you get a trimmed version of java that has been tested to work with JOverseer.

We recommend installing the latest long term java release from https://adoptium.net/en-GB/ which is free. Oracle's confusing marketing, monetising and packaging forces us to avoid recommending their version of Java.

If you want to use your own specific version of java instead, then set environment variable JAVA_HOME or take a look at the options available in joverseer.bat .

Where is jOverseer Installed?

In windows, it is typically installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\JOverseer\

Where does jOverseer store information?

Preferences are stored in the registry on windows: \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Prefs\org\joverseer

jOverseer isn't checking for the latest version.

jOverseer updating is controlled by the preferences, which you can see from the Preferences->Updates tab.

If the Preference is not set to check for a new version, then it won't check!

As of version 1.16.3 a new menu item Help->Check for Update is available which will allow the user to force a check, and which the user can force the update download to happen, even if the version number appears to be the latest.

JOverseer only checks for updates at startup, and will wait 2 weeks before checking again. Sometimes you may want to force an update.

• Starting jOverseer with the -U option which should reset the 'last checked' time and check for an update.
• Edit the registry and remove the last time stamp: \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Prefs\org\joverseer\ui\last/Version/Check/Date (yes - the slashes are in the key name!)
• Close jOverseer and run jOverseerUpdater.exe which will unconditionally download the latest update.

If none of those work, then check that the RSS feed has published the latest, and that the preferences are set to the correct RSS feed. The main feed is https://www.middleearthgames.com/software/joverseer/feed.xml

Note that the world+dog moved away from http:// to https:// circa 2020 and as a result, if any of the update addresses are on the old http://, then various bits of windows/java/anti-virus/web-libraries, can leap in and try to redirect to https://, which make java confused and refuse to connect. At version about 1.16.17+ JO will automatically re-write the links to be https://, but if you are on an older version then you will have to change the links manually in Preferences to fix the auto-update.

I want to revert to an older version.

If you have a show-stopping problem and want to go back to an older version of jOverseer until a fix is available, then it may be possible. A limited number of older updates are available.

To see if a specific update is available, open an internet browser and try 'https://www.middleearthgames.com/software/joverseer/url-1.16.xx.html` where xx is 1 or 2 digits of the desired version. If the update is not available, then it won't find the file.

To force jOverseer to use that older version:

• open jOverseer
• find the Preferences->Updates section
• change the Download pointer for updates to the https://www.middleearth.com/software/joverseer/url-1.16.xx.html that worked before
• force an update check: Help->Check For Updates and then click Update even if nothing appears in the text window.
• Once the update has happened, go back and change the download pointer to https://www.middleearth.com/software/joverseer/url.html, so you can get notified of when a new update appears, otherwise you could get stuck on an old version!
• You can now refuse to install updates when jOverseer notices, unless you can see that it fixes your problem.
• Drop an email to middleearthgames letting them know that you are having problems, so that they can prioritise bug-fixes.

I want to install the latest version, but I can't find an installer for it.

Since version 1.0.11 jOverseer is pretty reliable about updating existing versions, so having the very latest installer is not necessary, although it's easier to force the initial update with version 1.16.3 and later.

Where's the update for Linux/Windows/Mac ?

Only the installers (setup program) are platform specific. The updates are the same for all platforms. jOverseer is the same for all platforms. (Note to developers: this is not quite true :) jide-common.jar has had to be modified to workaround some problems)

JOverseer is writing my orders in a non-English language.

Multi-language support is incomplete. JOverseer will assume the orders are submitted in the same language as the computer it is running on. If you want to override this, start joverseer with the command line option (without quotes) '-L EN' which means use Locale English. The translation information lives in https://github.com/JOverseer/joverseer/tree/master/joverseerjar/resources/ui as message_xx.properties, where xx is the ISO code for the locale.