Questions
- Is there an easy way to invite friends to use Xfire?
- How do I add friends to my Friends list?
- When I add a friend, I type in his Xfire Username, send an invitation message, and click OK, but he still doesn't appear in my Friends List. Why?
- I'd like to find out more about the friends of my friends on Xfire. Can I see their profiles (e.g. who are they friends with)?
- I'm just way too popular. How do I delete friends from Xfire?
- What does it mean if my Friend is online but has no status displayed next to their Username?
- I know my friend has a lot of friends signed up on Xfire, but why don't I see them under my "Friends of Friends Playing" section?
- How can I set a customized status (e.g. I'm up for Halo right now!) for myself once I log on to Xfire?
- How do I erase my custom status messages?
- I have a game installed on my computer that is supported by Xfire, but when I start playing my status never shows the game. Why does this happen?
- Does Xfire support mods and expansion packs of games?
- My friend is playing a game online in multiplayer mode as indicated on Xfire. When I double click on his Username, I only get an IM pop-up but do not have the option to join him instantly. Why is this happening?
- My friend is playing a game online in multiplayer mode as indicated on Xfire. When I click Join, I get an error message and can't join him. What's wrong?
- Sometimes when I hit the enter key (or the "send" button) to send an IM to a friend, nothing happens. I suspect that my message is never sent. Why does this occur?
- My friends say they can't see any of my server info. What's going on?
- Why can't I join games like JointOps and Ravenshield?
- Why doesn’t my server show up in the Xfire “All” servers list?
- How do I set up a Game Lobby?
- Xfire does not detect my Private server or No-Cd version of a game. Why?
- Why does my game server show up in Xfire as the wrong country?
- When I try to join Call of Duty 2 MP (Steam) from Xfire, it launches single player. Why?
Answers
* Is there an easy way to invite friends to use Xfire?
Most definitely. Locate the easily accessible Invite a Friend section on the Xfire website. Then log in with your Xfire Username and Password. Once done, there's an option to enter your friend's email address, and/or customize the default invitation email message we've prepared for your convenience. Your Xfire Username is automatically included in the invitation so your friend can easily add you to his or her Xfire Friends List after he/she installs Xfire.
Remember; the more friends you invite, the more use you'll get out of Xfire!
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* How do I add friends to my Friends list?
With extreme ease. Is your friend already an Xfire member? Then add them to your Xfire friends network by selecting "Tools", and "Add Friend" in the Xfire interface. Or, you can just click on the "Add" button at the bottom of the screen. Type in your friend's Xfire Username (or search for them using the fields available), and when he or she logs onto Xfire the next time, your friend will receive an invitation to join your Friends List. Assuming your friend accepts your offer, both of you are added to each other's Friends List.
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* When I add a friend, I type in his Xfire Username, send an invitation message, and click OK, but he still doesn't appear in my Friends List. Why?
Because you've jumped the gun a little bit. Your friend needs to approve the request for the addition to be complete. When that happens, you'll see his or her name appear.
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* I'd like to find out more about the friends of my friends on Xfire. Can I see their profiles (e.g. who are they friends with)?
Profiles are a huge part of the Xfire experience. If you go to the Xfire website www.xfire.com and log in, you'll be able to access your profile and make any updates necessary (your name probably isn't a blank space, for instance.) You'll also see a list of your friends and can link to their profiles, and then to their friends, and then to their friends, etc etc, all the way down the line. We encourage you to fill out at least some basic user info for yourself. It makes it a lot easier for your friends to search for you.
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* I'm just way too popular. How do I delete friends from Xfire?
If your initial enthusiasm with Xfire now has you responding to messages from your newfound friends 24 hours a day, it may be time to pare down the list a little. Simply right click on a friend in the "Friends Online" or "Friends Offline" section, hit delete, and that person will be removed from your list. However, since the "Friends of Friends" section is created from your friends' buddy lists, there's no way to remove people individually from that section. You can collapse the entire section by going to the Tools menu in Xfire, clicking Options, and unchecking "Show Friends of my Friends" on the Privacy Tab.
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* What does it mean if my Friend is online but has no status displayed next to their Username?
It means they have logged onto Xfire, but are not currently playing a game. To start a chat, make contact by double-clicking on their Username.
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* I know my friend has a lot of friends signed up on Xfire, but why don't I see them under my "Friends of Friends Playing" section?
Only friends of friends who are playing a game will appear in your Xfire interface. Look for them under the Friends of Friends category on the Friends tab in the Xfire client.
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* How can I set a customized status (e.g. I'm up for Halo right now!) for myself once I log on to Xfire?
Xfire gives you the ability to put up whatever custom message you want, so you can tell your friends exactly what they need to know. At the bottom of the Xfire client, note the little arrow button next to your default status. If you click that and select, Set Custom Status, you can type in whatever status message you like.
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* How do I erase my custom status messages?
There is no way to delete the custom status messages with the Xfire user interface. However, once you have five custom status messages and you create a sixth, the oldest custom status message will be erased automatically.
This will happen each time a new custom status message is created and you already have five custom status messages. The oldest message will be bumped off and the newest one added.
Your other option is to delete them out of the XfireUser.ini file. Here's how:
- First, make sure Xfire is not running.
- Locate the XfireUser.ini file. On WinXp it is located in C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Xfire. *Note* You will need to have show hidden files enabled to find the XfireUser.ini file
- Once you have found this file open it with Notepad.
- Inside this file you should see a section that looks like the following:
[Status]
Custom1=Example 1
Custom2=Example 2
Custom3=Example 3
Simply delete the status line that you no longer want. When you delete them however, make sure that you change the Custom# so that the list is still in order.
Make your changes and save the file. Start Xfire and check your status messages, they should appear exactly as you left them in the XfireUser.ini.
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* I have a game installed on my computer that is supported by Xfire, but when I start playing my status never shows the game. Why does this happen?
If you are running a game on your computer that is on our list of supported games, it will not show up in Xfire if the Windows registry tags are missing or incorrect. If you have relocated the game on your hard drive without doing an actual installation, or installed on a Windows NT-type computer but not as an administrator, this could cause the problem. Xfire uses the game's registry tags to know where a game is installed, and how to detect it.
- To fix this, go to your Tools | Options | Games tab.
- Find the games you have on your system in the 'Not installed' list.
- Highlight the game name and the "Manual Setup" radio button.
- Click 'Browse'.
- Find the folder that contains the .exe file for that game and click 'Ok'.
- Click 'Apply'.
Check your Tools | Launch menu to verify that the game is now detected.
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* Does Xfire support mods and expansion packs of games?
We support some mods and expansion packs, but it does depend on how well the mod was designed. For instance, many mods call identical .exe files and resources, with the only difference being in loading certain maps or skins. Xfire is unable to distinguish between this usage and playing the base game. We're working on some better ways to detect the usage of mods and expansion packs for almost any game, but for now we're only able to support certain mods. This is why, for instance, you'll be see "Battlefield 1942" when you play Desert Combat, or "Battlefield2" when you're playing BF2: Special Forces. We're continually working to provide better detection and launching of mods and expansion packs!
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* My friend is playing a game online in multiplayer mode as indicated on Xfire. When I double click on his Username, I only get an IM pop-up but do not have the option to join him instantly. Why is this happening?
There's a couple possibilities. First, the online game your friend is playing may not be currently supported by Xfire's "One Click Join" feature. Xfire is proud to support many of the most popular online titles, with more being added all the time. However, in instances when Xfire displays the name of the game your friend is playing (plus his or her status with the game), and you can't instantly join him, you'll have to begin your game the old fashioned regular way. One Click Joining (double-clicking your friend's Xfire UserName and clicking "Join") is an incredibly cool Xfire element, and we're striving to add Xfire with Instant Joining functionality with as many online games as possible.
Second, if Xfire does support the game you're trying to join, but your join button is greyed out, make sure there is a valid IP showing for your friend in the "Expanded Info View" pane. They may be playing single player, or on a server that is not joinable. Once you've ensured there is an IP, make sure that Xfire detects you actually have the game installed. If it doesn't know where the game is, it can't launch it to let you join! The fastest way to check is to add yourself to your own friends list, launch the game, and then alt-tab or alt-enter out and see what your status says. If Xfire isn't detecting your gameplay, see the FAQ Here!! Follow the instructions to get your games showing up in the Xfire Launch menu.
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* My friend is playing a game online in multiplayer mode as indicated on Xfire. When I click Join, I get an error message and can't join him. What's wrong?
Be sure that you have the game loaded onto your computer and have the latest build of it. Another reason for this error message may be that the game itself has a problem that is preventing you from joining. For instance, if it has had a server time-out, or if the server filled up with other players as you were joining.
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* Sometimes when I hit the enter key (or the "send" button) to send an IM to a friend, nothing happens. I suspect that my message is never sent. Why does this occur?
When sending IMs, Xfire waits patiently for confirmation from your friend's Xfire client. Then it sends over the message. You won't spot the message in the upper part of the chat window until your friend's machine has informed your client that the message was received. If your compadre is having network predicaments, the message text may stay in the lower window of the chat session.
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* My friends say they can't see any of my server info. What's going on?
There's a couple things that could be going on here. First, ensure that you've connected to an external server. If you start the server in the game itself, then there is no IP address to send to your friends (127.0.0.1 isn't very useful!) You need to connect to a server outside of your machine in order to allow Xfire to detect the server info and send it to your friends. You MAY be able to launch a separate dedicated server on your own machine, and then connect to that, but you'll have to try it and see if it sends the proper info to your friends - each instance is a little different.
If you're connected to an external server but your friends can't see the IP address, make sure you're moving around and interacting in the game. If you're dead or otherwise just spectating in the game, there is no IP traffic from your machine back to the server, and hence no way for Xfire to know you are actually playing.
Also, make sure that you've enabled the ability of other people to see your server info (which is on the Privacy Tab of the Options Menu.) If you're active in the game, however, and you've allowed people to see your server info, the problem may be in your Xfire installation. Try hopping onto a couple different servers - we have seen some servers that aren't able to be detected, so make sure it's not just the one server you happen to be on. If that doesn't work, you may want to try uninstalling Xfire, rebooting your machine, reinstalling, and then rebooting again to ensure Xfire is able to be properly installed.
Finally, if your IP address is showing but there is no list of players, it may be that we're still working on parsing out the server info for that game. While we generally support server info as soon as we support the game, it may need some tweaking, particularly if the game developers have changed the communication protocols in a patch or upgrade. We'll have that info working as soon as we can!
If none of this works, feel free to post in the Technical Support - OPEN forum and we'll see what we can do. We haven't worked out all the possibilities here yet, but we'll try to get you up and running if possible!
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* Why can't I join games like JointOps and Ravenshield?
These developers do not allow their multi-player servers to be joined using a "command line". This is the way Xfire allows you to "one click join" into servers.
Since there is no joining, there is no server list in the Xfire servers tab. You should still be able to launch the game from Xfire and track your hours.
Visit our Games page to see which games have "one click join" support from Xfire.
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* Why doesn’t my server show up in the Xfire “All” servers list?
We track every time someone joins your server via their Xfire client. Once enough Xfire users have joined your server we recognize it as a “good” server. Then it should be added to the “All” servers list.
We will send out a query every week to verify your server is still active.
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* How do I set up a Game Lobby?
The Chat Room admin (or whoever is "hosting" the game) sets the Chat Room as a Game Lobby for their installed game.
Your friends in the Chat Room click the Join Game button. This puts them in the Game Lobby "ready state". (In the Info View) They should remain there and not click the button again. If they click the button, they will un-ready themselves and not join.
Once everyone is "ready", the host clicks the 'Join Game' button. Your game should launch and bring you to the in-game lobby screen.
Your friends in the Xfire Game Lobby in the ready state should then be automatically launched into the game created by the host.
The limiting factors would most likely be firewalls. The easy way to test this is can the host go onto other sites like Gamespy or MSN Zone and host this game online.
In order to host a lobby, you must open some ports in your firewall or router. For Directplay 7 games you need to forward TCP and UDP traffic on port range 2300 to 2400 and port 47624. For Directplay 8 games you need to forward TCP and UDP traffic on port range 2302 to 2400 and port 6073.
Here is the Microsoft knowledge base article on this topic: Ports required to play on a network.
Click the link below to see games that are supported by Xfire Game Lobbies:
http://www.xfire.com/supported_games/lobby/
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* Xfire does not detect my Private server or No-Cd version of a game. Why?
Xfire only supports full retail versions of games.
We do not test with or support "no-cd" cracks or Private Server versions of MMO games.
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* Why does my game server show up in Xfire as the wrong country?
We use the database from http://ip-to-country.webhosting.info/ which is updated about once a month.
If you find an IP address that is displayed incorrectly in Xfire, you may want to report it in the IP-to-Country Bug Report forum.
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* When I try to join Call of Duty 2 MP (Steam) from Xfire, it launches single player. Why?
Call of Duty 2 uses two different exe files. One for Multiplayer and one for single player.
Steam changed their applaunch command to use the same applaunch # for both MP and SP.
There is currently nothing Xfire can do about this to our knowledge.
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