This is a guide to help first-time Hotline users get up and running with Hotline Connect Client. This guide explains how to enter a tracker into the tracker list, retrieve a server list, enter a server, chat, read news and transfer files. A more complete, detailed guide will be provided when time permits.

Before going through this guide, make sure that you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Hotline Connect on your Mac or PC.

1. After downloading and installing Hotline Connect, double-click the application icon to start the program.

After the program has started up, the following window will appear:

2. You will need to supply a user name to log in to Hotline servers. Server administrators do not like users that enter their servers with the default names (e.g., "unnamed") and will likely kick you out if you do not choose a different name.

Click on the Options button to bring up the Options window:

Enter a name to use while you are using Hotline. Click Save to save your changes.

3. Click on the Servers button to bring up the Server window:

Click the Tracker button on the Server window to bring up the Tracker list:

Hotline Connect comes with one tracker (hltracker.com) already entered.

4. To enter additional Hotline Trackers into the list, click the Tracker button on the Tracker window to bring up the New Account window:

Enter a name for a new tracker. The name is just whatever you wish to call the tracker. Then enter the tracker address. The tracker address must be the the IP name or IP address that is found on the Hotline Tracker-Tracker page. Either the IP name or the IP address will work. For instance, using hltracker.com will provide the same server list as using 207.245.14.170. Click Save to add the new tracker to your list.

5. To test your new tracker, click the refresh button on the Tracker list window. Each tracker in the list will be checked and the results will be shown in the Tracker window. If you succesfully connected to the tracker, the number of servers on the tracker will be displayed. If you do not connect to the tracker, an error message will be displayed. The most common error message is "Refused," meaning the tracker is not processing requests.

Once you have completed adding any trackers, return to the Server window and Click the
refresh button on the Server window. Hotline will retrieve the server list from each tracker in your Tracker list and will display the Server name, user count and description for each server:

7. Once you have logged into a server, click the Users button to see a list of users currently connected to the server.
Click the Chat button to bring up the chat window:

To chat, type your text in the lower portion of the chat window and hit Return to send your message.

Click the News button to view News posts. Navigate through news folders and messages just as you would on your computer. Double-clicking a message will display the contents of that message. If you are using Hotline Connect (1.5) to connect to a server running an older version, you will not be able to read or post news. Similarly, if you connect to a Hotline 1.5 server using an older version of Hotline, you will not be able to read or post news.

8. Click the Files button to open the Files window:

Navigate through the file directories as you would with your operating system. The way different windows are displayed can be changed by going to the Options window and checking or un-checking "Browse folder using a seperate window."

9. To UPLOAD a file into the current directory, click the Upload button and navigate to the file you wish to upload from your computer. To DOWNLOAD a file, simply double-click the file. If you have permission to download and the server is not too busy, the file will begin to be transferred onto your computer. You can check the progress of your file transfers and other processes by clicking the Tasks button to bring up the Tasks window:

All tasks are listed, including the progress of server list retrievals from the trackers, file downloads, file uploads, etc.

10. Some servers will require you to log in using a specifig user name and password. To do this, select the server in the Server window and press the Connect button on the Server window to display the Connect window:

The address for the server will already be filled in. Enter the correct user name and password, then click Connect to enter the server. If you wish to save a bookmark for the server, press the Save... button before pressing Connect. Once you have entered a server this way, upload and download files as usual.