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Can't Connect to Spectator Server [CLIENT?]

Kat Goddess·12/12/2014, 3:05:24 AM·11 votes·21,246 views

Problem: Whenever I try to spectate any game, Ranked, Normal, etc. The game cannot connect to the spectator server.

Scenario I: Black screen for a couple of minutes and then a error pops up saying something along the lines of: Could not connect to Spectator server. Will now exit.

Scenario II: Sometimes it gets to character screen after the black screen where you can see the characters and names of the two teams, and some people will stop loading at some random percentage, and it will stay like that until I force close it.

Scenario III: Once it finished loading and I could see the game but everything was frozen, I could still look around and see character items and such, but all of the champions and minions were stuck in place. The players stayed stuck when you tried to rewind. Then I pressed the live button and it briefly connected (some announcements of player deaths came up) and then the spectator server error came up, the screen turned black, and the error showed up again. Then the League client remained at the game in progress screen.

After Error: When the game closes the game does one of these things: Client goes to the home page of the client. I have access to all interfaces I.E. Play, Store, Friends, Summoner Profile, Etc. Client goes to the game in progress screen. I am unable to access any interface except for the Friends, Chat Room, and Notifications interfaces. Client goes to the reconnect screen, giving me the option to reconnect or exit. Reconnecting leads to Scenario I.

Attempted Fixes: Logging in and out of League Restarting PC Disconnecting internet

Note: However, I can still play games perfectly fine, and this issue only appeared today (12-11-14) Sometime in the middle of me trying to fix the issue, the launcher updated but the issue remained the same.

Update: I solved this problem around two months ago, by upgrading to Windows 7. I'm still not sure what was causing this problem, but the best of luck to anyone who still has this problem.

39 Comments

hythrain1/26/2015, 10:30:16 AM3 votes

I'm having the same issue, so I did some testing. Like TheJuzzo, I was getting stuck at the IP 192.64.174.163. Unlike Juzzo, I wasn't going through 128.177.104.34. In addition, when I attempted to connect to the IP via command prompt's tracert, I found it connected fine.

For anyone that isn't computer savvy and wants to check if they're being stuck on the same IP, do the following:

  1. Open your League of Legends folder wherever you installed it. For Windows users, open up My Computer, choose your main drive (Likely C:/), then see if you have a Riot Games folder. If you do, go there. If not, check into the Program Files folder. If nothing there, use the Search tool to find your folder. For Mac users... honestly, I don't know. Hopefully you know where it is! The rest of the directions will be for Windows folks.

  2. Open up the Logs folder, followed by the "Game - R3d Logs" folder.

  3. You should now be in a folder with a lot of text files, depending on how long you've been playing. Find the latest text file, which will typically start with 2015 (sorting your files by type should also put them in order of name, so the last one will be the one you want.

  4. Open the file in Notepad.

  5. Click Edit > Find. Type in 192.64.174.163 then hit Enter on your keyboard

  6. You should now be taken to the first entry of that IP. It it says "Failed to connect to" in front of it, congrats, you're in the club. Contribute your name here so Riot knows you have the exact same symptoms.

It's worth noting that if you have this issue, attempting most standard things from you end likely won't work. I had enabled port forwarding, disabled my firewall, rest my IP and flushed the DNS, as well as attempted everything else I didn't just say now that is in Riot's connection issues article (The ones I named are usually the big ones for stuff like this). Either this situation is something being caused at that specific IP or it could be an issue with ISPs.

I checked with Riot Support for any progress on this, but sadly they have nothing. It seems the guys in charge of spectator mode are aware of the issue, but there's been nothing regarding fixing it (which likely means they're as stumped as we are).

Spectros12/24/2014, 4:47:11 AM2 votes

I'm having this same problem of scenario I whenever I go to spectate someone. I also sometimes have trouble connecting to the chat server in my league client.

Murasakipurple2/12/2015, 4:53:44 PM2 votes

This is still happening to me.

I've tried everything I was able to find online related to LoL connection issues, and nothing has worked. Looks like this problem has been around for quite awhile. It's pretty frustrating to not be able to use the spectator feature.

An interesting note is that both myself and my roommate experience this problem. While investigating, he gained access to the PBE: where he was able to spectate without problems.

prettygirlxx12/15/2014, 12:40:39 AM2 votes

Same here, haven't been able to spectate any games for a while now. Always get:

Scenario I: Black screen for a couple of minutes and then a error pops up saying something along the lines of: Could not connect to Spectator server. Will now exit.

TheJuzzo12/26/2014, 5:57:31 PM1 votes

Im having the same issue. LOL logs show the unreachable server IP as 192.64.174.163

Trace routes show packets getting stuck at 128.177.104.34. (belongs to a company that provides internet to corporations...Probably a router right in front of riots network not working as intended)

Curious if things stick at the same place for the rest of you. Open cmd and type "tracert 192.64.174.163" check if 128.177.104.34 is the last hop before things time out. (can type cmd in windows search to get the console open)

Karch1/1/2015, 9:59:46 PM1 votes

I also have the exact same problem. I hope someone can come up with a fix.

OuttaRang31/17/2015, 10:59:13 PM1 votes

I also have had this problem since around December. It still continues to this day. Rito pls look at this thread.

Angry Monster1/19/2015, 7:22:23 AM1 votes

So i was wondering if you ever got this fixed? I am currently having the same problem

jerilyn1/29/2015, 5:09:50 AM1 votes

I've been having both scenerios 1 and 2!!!!!!!!! HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP, RIOT FIX THIS.... this is so annoying :/

VorgZangrief1/29/2015, 5:15:51 AM1 votes

Also having this problem, would love to know when it gets fixed

hythrain2/7/2015, 6:56:14 AM1 votes

So I'm gonna admit that this issue... disappeared for me a few days after my post and I've had no problem spectating since (currently spectating as I write this).

I've been working with Bacon on his issue. If you don't have the IP issue coming up, do the following:

  1. In the log you should have opened from my previous instructions, go to Edit > Find and type in "ERROR|"

  2. If the description of the error talks about a missing file, go to step 4. Otherwise, go to step 3.

  3. Copy and paste the text of the error to a post here (which should be just to the right). You may have multiple errors in your log, but for now focus on just the first error. Depending on what the error is, more options can be looked into. You don't need to do anymore at this time while we look this stuff up. The point of posting this info is so we can give more information to Riot.

  4. If you're missing a file, run the repair tool. To access it, you need to close your game and open the launcher. In the top right corner is a question mark. Clicking it gives you a few options, including running the repair tool. Do this and see what happens when you spectate.

  5. If you still cannot spectate, open your new log and return to step 1 of these steps. This time, no matter what do step 3.

For those wondering, here are the errors Bacon got when he tried this for me:

Error before repair: Missing file on r3dGFile open :C:/Riot Games/League of Legends/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/0.0.1.74/deploy/Data/Menu/IMEConfig.xml

Error after repair: RadsOpenFile: RADS cannot open file "C:/Riot Games/League of Legends/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/0.0.1.74/deploy/Data/Menu/IMEConfig.xml" because it's not in the manifest.

This is a separate issue from the timing out issue, but still very much a big issue.

Kitakazi2/18/2015, 4:41:10 PM1 votes

Hello did any of you guys ever find a fix for this problem? Ive been having the same issue and just found this thread.. Please help :((

000015.600| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| Failed to connect to 192.64.174.163 (192.64.174.163). Timeout duration (ms): 10000 000015.600| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| ReplayNetClient GetServerVersion error. Could not send HTTP request. Error: 16389 000015.600| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| ReplayDownloader: Spectator server version retrieve Failure!!

Kaos075/22/2015, 1:12:04 PM1 votes

Same problem here, I cannot spectate.

iChuuuzeYou5/23/2015, 2:24:00 AM1 votes

I'm also having the same problem :\ Any fixes yet Riot?

Edenlly5/24/2015, 3:33:27 AM1 votes

I am having the same problem :c

nenadzero8/20/2015, 3:14:10 PM1 votes

Heimerdinger Nothing's wrong with Riot Servers. If you have router go to adress: 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 and look in STATUS You will see: DNS Server: 89.216.1.40 , 89.216.1.50 (this is for me) .. Now and under "DHCP Settings" for your LAN u will see: Primary DNS is set: 0.0.0.0 (optional) & Secondary DNS is set: 0.0.0.0 (optional). You need to change that with default dns servers, for me Primary DNS is: 89.216.1.40, Secondary DNS: 89.216.1.50. I really don't know why it needs to change, that was optional settings, but after you change that all will work.

TheSquid10/11/2015, 4:25:30 PM1 votes

000005.578| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| ReplayNetClient GetServerVersion error. HTTP status code: 404 000005.578| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| ReplayDownloader: Spectator server version retrieve Failure!!

HochPoch10/25/2015, 7:26:34 PM1 votes

still have the exact same problems.

TheKimera8/15/2016, 8:07:32 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Maxine is Bae,realm=NA,application-id=LqLKtMpN,discussion-id=XWLqdE7B,comment-id=,timestamp=2014-12-12T03:05:24.889+0000)

Problem: Whenever I try to spectate any game, Ranked, Normal, etc. The game cannot connect to the spectator server.

Scenario I: Black screen for a couple of minutes and then a error pops up saying something along the lines of: Could not connect to Spectator server. Will now exit.

Scenario II: Sometimes it gets to character screen after the black screen where you can see the characters and names of the two teams, and some people will stop loading at some random percentage, and it will stay like that until I force close it.

Scenario III: Once it finished loading and I could see the game but everything was frozen, I could still look around and see character items and such, but all of the champions and minions were stuck in place. The players stayed stuck when you tried to rewind. Then I pressed the live button and it briefly connected (some announcements of player deaths came up) and then the spectator server error came up, the screen turned black, and the error showed up again. Then the League client remained at the game in progress screen.

After Error: When the game closes the game does one of these things: Client goes to the home page of the client. I have access to all interfaces I.E. Play, Store, Friends, Summoner Profile, Etc. Client goes to the game in progress screen. I am unable to access any interface except for the Friends, Chat Room, and Notifications interfaces. Client goes to the reconnect screen, giving me the option to reconnect or exit. Reconnecting leads to Scenario I.

Attempted Fixes: Logging in and out of League Restarting PC Disconnecting internet

Note: However, I can still play games perfectly fine, and this issue only appeared today (12-11-14) Sometime in the middle of me trying to fix the issue, the launcher updated but the issue remained the same.

Update: I solved this problem around two months ago, by upgrading to Windows 7. I'm still not sure what was causing this problem, but the best of luck to anyone who still has this problem.

i run the update of the windows after 6 mon that i cant spacted, its helped me

SmellyAnarchist12/16/2014, 3:48:05 AM1 votes

I get Scenario 1 every time I try to join a ranked or normals. My client freezes up and I have to end the task to close out of it. Can there be a fix to this ASAP, or at least acknowledgement that it's a known issue?

Caraway12/17/2014, 5:49:10 PM1 votes

I had a Red response in my thread about this issue, and I sent in a ticket+reply, and am still awaiting a proper response that isn't a generic message. I'm still wondering whether this is a localized issue to some ISPs/areas, cause my friends don't have an issue, but some others i've seen have the same problem.

Kat Goddess12/20/2014, 7:55:21 PM1 votes

This problem recently got worse and this would happen when trying to connect to regular games. Only after retrying a couple times, exiting league, and retrying a couple more times was I able to join the game. However, I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and everything is fine. I was told though, that Riot was working on this problem by a friend and I was unable to find any notification saying that it was. However, the problem is fixed, whether it was RIot or me, I am unsure.