Connecting to a Hotline Server

Connecting to a Hotline Server

The Connect Window

When you click the Connect button on the toolbar, the Connect window pops up. This window has 3 text boxes:

Server Address - The IP address of the server you want to connect to. If you're connecting to a server using a custom port number, you can enter that port after the address with a colon (in the form of ServerAddress:PortNumber)

Login - If you have an account on the server, this is the login name on your account. If this box is left blank, you will login on the guest (the default) account on the server.

Password - The password for your account if you have one. If you do not have an account and are logging in as a guest, leave this box blank as well.
Once you have entered all of the necessary information, it is time to connect. Click the connect button in the lower right corner of the window - that's it!
For first-time users: You should use a bookmark the first time you connect. See below about how to open one.

Bookmarks

Hotline has the ability to make bookmarks for your favorite servers. These files, if they are put in a special folder, are accessible directly from Hotline. They can also be double-clicked from the Finder and will connect to the server you have bookmarked. On a Macintosh, you can use a fantastic freeware extension that allows you to connect from the main menu bar of your mac to any bookmarked servers. Highly recommended. Download it here.

Bookmarks directly accessible in Hotline are stored in the "Servers" folder inside your Hotline folder. They can be accessed in the Connect window by clicking on the triangle button in the upper right corner. Select a bookmark from this menu by clicking once on the triangle and then clicking again on the bookmark you want to open.

Several bookmarks are included with Hotline Client. These servers are main Hotline servers, but are by no means the only servers out there. As you progress in using Hotline, you will find more server addresses that you like.

Making Bookmarks
After you find a server that you like, you will probably want to make a bookmark for it. This can be done by first putting all of the correct information in the connect window and clicking the Save button in the lower left. Name the bookmark and choose a location for it. Bookmarks must be stored in the "Servers" folder inside your Hotline folder in order to be accessible from within Hotline. They may be stored in other places as well. They may be double-clicked in Finder windows, or even put into the Apple menu (or your favorite launcher tool) for quick and easy access!

Note to Mac Users
If you don't rename the bookmark for an IP number address, and attempt to save a bookmark with a port number (e.g., 123.456.876.23:6000, in which the :6000 is the port number), you MUST change the colon ( : ) to a hyphen ( - ) or something else or you will get an error message. Macs do not allow colons as part of a filename. So, if you were to save the IP number 123.456.876.23:6000 as a bookmark, you would need to make it look like 123.456.876.23-6000 before saving.

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Portions of the above are © 1997 Hotline Communications Ltd.