issue loading assets for the game

I have been using chess.com for about four years now but yesterday for the first time it would not allow me to play against the Bots. I repeatedly got a message that there was a problem loading assets for the game, please try again later. so I tried again later, and even logged off and then on again and repeated this later in the afternoon but still no luck. all I got was the same message, there was a problem loading assets for the game, please try again later. this morning I have got the same message. can anypone please let me know what is going on here?

thank you.

Kaarlo Tuomi.

Hi Kaarlo,

Sorry, I cant help but I am having the exact same problem. I started a thread in this message forum about 20 hours ago saying I couldn't practice vs. the computer from a custom position or from the position in a previous game. The computer just flashes the thinking dots forever and ever. I've used that feature countless times but it quit working a few days ago. Several hours ago I wondered if I'd have a problem trying to play bots which I've also done countless times but sure enough I can't play them now either and it is giving me the exact same error you describe in red highlighting... "There was an issue loading assets for the game. Please try again later. "

I'd be curious if you can set up and play from a custom position in analysis mode and have it actually work. My guess is that will also be broken for you.

I've tried multiple browsers, multiple operating systems (Linux & Windows), clearing cookies and cache, icognito mode, even rebooted my cable modem and router so I've got a different public ip address. Nothing is fixing it. I even tried with a second google account I have and still same issue. It does work in the app on my phone though.

Once I realized my problem isn't just playing from custom positions but that I cant play against any bots I came back to this forum to see if anyone was talking about that problem and immediately found your message.

Super annoying. I often like to go back and play against the computer from positions I had in a game. Hopefully some more people will chime in and report and hopefully chess.com monitors this and will look into and resolve it.

ThoughtPaddler

okay, you've changed the message but the issue remains. the message now says: "Oops! we could not load this Bot. Please check your connection and try again." I tried it with several different Bots, and that made no difference. there is nothing wrong with my connection; I'm on a PC with wired broadband, which is as stable as it gets. this is pretty much the only thing I do on here, play against the Bots, so it would be appreciated if you could look at this.

thank you.

Kaarlo Tuomi

to ThoughtPaddler, thank you for your reply. I'm afraid I don't know how to set up custom positions so cannot test this for you. the only thing I do is the Daily Puzzle and play against the Bots, but for now I can't even do that. take care, enjoy your chess, Kaarlo.

Try clearing your browser cache.

Yep, same with me Kaarlo. The error message has been changed to..

"Oops! we could not load this Bot. Please check your connection and try again."

Magically my notebook started working properly again yesterday and I can play bots again on it. But my desktop, which is what I use most, is still having this stupid bot issue.

I'm a recently retired Linux IT administrator so obviously I've tried all the clear your cache stuff, multiple browsers, even multiple OSs on this desktop. Nothing fixes it.

Do you log in with Google credentials Kaarlo?

My current theory is that it is some sort of issue with the Google "fingerprint" for this desktop device. If it doesn't self resolve soon like my notebook did I'm going to just create a new chess.com account that doesn't require Google credentials.

ThoughtPaddler,

sorry, I do not log in with Google; do not even have a Google account. I log in directly on the website. I also do not have a browser cache as I have Firefox set up to not save either cookies or history. I have also rebooted my PC this morning, but I am not as technically literate as you (I make shoes for a living) so cannot try alternative OS and only have the one device, a Windows PC.

take care, Kaarlo.

I went and created a login with an e-mail address and it did NOT resolve the issue. The new e-mail login has the same issue. This is infuriating. I can boot this desktop into Windows or Linux. I've tried multiple users and multiple browsers in both operating systems. It never works. Its like this device is cursed. I can take the same accounts and log into a browser on another device and play bots fine.

ThoughtPaddler,

I've been wondering whether or not you have a paid account? I do not have a paid account and it seems reasonable to me that folk who pay get better service and greater functionality, and if you pay even more then you get even better service and access to even more functions. so maybe the reason we are not able to play Bots is not a bug but a feature of the fact that we do not pay. to start with you can have some functions but once it becomes obvious you are not going to convert into a paying customer they gradually wind down what you can access until you finally decide it is not worthwhile continuing. server time, after all, costs money, so there does need to be a finite limit to their generosity. they can't afford to have millions of non-paying customers.

on the other hand, if that is what they are doing, then it seems dishonest to have the error message say, "Oops, we could not load this Bot," when they are in fact choosing not to load this Bot. if you want to limit what folk can do then just say, so, "sorry, that function is not available to you," or something like that.

just a thought,

Karlo Tumoi.

Hi Karlo,

No, I do not have a paid account. But, it is not the account because I can use my exact same username and password and play against bots on other computers ok.

My current theory is that its related to having an old CPU like I do. The computer where I can't play bots has an AMD Phenom II CPU which is very old. AMD Phenom II processors came out in 2009. Newer generations of CPUs support more instruction sets or in other words have more features.

My theory is that chess.com did an update to their site and now playing bots utilizes an instruction set, or a CPU feature in other words, that my old Phenom II processor doesn't support.
I have good reason to believe this is the case because I have access to another system almost identical to the one on which I can't play bots but that system has a slighter newer, AMD FX, CPU and I can play bots on it. AMD FX CPUs have instruction sets (features) that AMD Phenom II processors don't have. AMD FX CPUs came out in 2011.

I am confident enough this is the issue that I am taking a gamble and have ordered an AMD FX CPU off e-bay. It is a drop in replacement for the AMD Phenom II CPU and since it is so old it is very cheap. $14.49 US dollars including tax and delivery directly to my home. The AMD FX CPU should be here in 3 or 4 days and I'll replace my AMD Phenom II CPU with it and if my theory is correct the issue will be resolved.

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm guessing you are using an old CPU as well. If you write back and tell me you are having the issue on a newish computer then my theory probably isn't right.

ThoughtPaddler

ThoughtPaddler,

no, I am not using a new PC, the processor is: AMD A6-3620 APU

Kaarlo.

I saw that issue with trying to load a bot and a forced refresh, worked, after all the bot assets loaded. It can take a little time for the bot and assets to fully load, depending on connectivity.

I’m double checking but I don’t believe there have been any changes to the engine binaries, so CPU shouldn’t make a difference. Browser version could though, if you’re on an old browser.

To be clear.. the error message in the title of this thread has changed since this thread was started.

Starting approximately two weeks ago trying to play bots would result in the error message "issue loading assets for the game" as shown in the title of this thread. Then about a week ago for both Kaarlo and I the error message has become "Oops! we could not load this Bot. Please check your connection and try again."

I have dual boot set up on the system getting the error about bots. Dual boot allows me to choose at boot time whether to boot into Fedora Linux 42 or Windows 10.

I have the issue using either operating system. Firefox, Brave, Chrome, Edge, Falkon.. none of those browsers work and I've tried them all. Firefox, Brave, and Chrome I've tried under both operating systems. Same error message regardless of browser or operating system. I've cleared the caches.

I've been using chess.com and the play against a bot feature very, very, much for the past several months on this computer, primarily under Fedora Linux, and everything had been great up until a couple weeks ago.

I can use the same chess.com credentials and play against bots without issue on other computers.

The processor on this dual boot system with the issue is an AMD Phenom II. Kaarlo is having the issue on a similar processor, an AMD A6-3620 APU.

I actually have another system that is nearly identical to this one on which I'm getting the error. (I'm a computer nerd, retired Linux Sysadmin) It has the same motherboard but an AMD FX cpu and I do not get the oops couldn't load bot error on it.

Because of that I've decided its likely enough that the CPU is the issue that I've ordered an AMD FX cpu off e-bay to replace my AMD Phenom II. The motherboard supports either of those processors. When the AMD FX arrives in a few days I'll remove the AMD Phenom II and replace it with the AMD FX. I suspect my problem will be gone. If not, it only costing me $14.49 to find out.

I'll report back either way and let you know.

Martin_Stahl,

I'm not sure what you would call an "old browser." I use Firefox, which has been around since 2002, although it wasn't actually called Firefox until November 2004, and to some people 24 years is old. I am currently on version 115 which is less than a month old.

when I come to the chess.com website the first thing I see is a splash screen that says, "Chess.com is best experienced on the latest version of Chrome or Firefox."

I've got that nailed.

and, to be clear, I have been playing the Bots every day for the previous two years (my Daily Puzzle streak is currently 602 days) and I did occasionally get this error message when trying to load a Bot. but in every case I waited a few seconds and tried again and it cleared the issue. at that time I assumed it was caused by server overload, or a similar type issue caused by traffic or queuing rather than technology. six days ago, on Tue 3 Feb, it would not allow me to play even after multiple attempts, waiting, closing the account and trying again, coming back later in the day and repeating all of those strategies. I have not been able to play a Bot since.

I do not know what you mean by the expression "forced refresh".

thank's for your input.

Kaarlo.

Firefox 115 was released in July of 2023 and is the last version available for some operating system versions. It is very possible that version of the browser or the browser in combination with the OS is causing the problem.

I'm not aware of any code changes to bots, but have asked staff if there was anything changed on the binary.

One thing you might try is clearing the browser's local storage. That's different than just clearing the cache.

when I posted the version number it said (in numerals) one hundred and fifteen point thirty-two point zero, but when the post appeared the number had disappeared for some reason, so I edited it to what you see above. irrespective of the number, the About Firefox screen in my browser says Firefox is up to date.

clearing the browser's local data makes no difference.

Kaarlo.

Version 115 is for older operating system and as far as I'm aware only gets security updates. There's no feature updates on those.

I can't say that's the issue, but it could be.

As to the other suggestion, the local storage may have some corrupted files and might need cleared.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/storage

in Firefox, under <Privacy and Security>, in <Cookies and Site Data>, there is an option marked: "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed." this has a tick box next to it and on my computer this has been selected for about the last five or six years. the browser does not retain site data or cookies and deletes them each time it closes. when I follow the instructions you linked to, and click <Manage Data>, there is no data to manage. it does not exist.

the browser itself says it is up to date.

I would also like to point out that your own comments do not add up. in #14 I clarified that I have been playing Bots without problems for two years. in #15 you said, "I'm not aware of any code changes to bots," so, if the code has not changed, and neither the browser nor the OS have changed, then the problem is not caused by the factors that have not changed.

one thing that did occur to me, is that if you are genuinely a chess.com mod and not just some random stranger trying to help, would be to look at the code on the website itself, and see what happens after a user presses Play. what is the decision tree that leads to the error message? rather than just proffer random guesses, why not look at the code itself and see why the decision is made?

just a thought.

Kaarlo.

I'm experiencing the same error. "Oops! We could not load this Bot. Please check your connection and try again! " I've done everything suggested as far as clearing stuff and hard refresh. same message in mozilla and chrome. no adblock or any extentions running. played bots fine for 2 years now. Did a bug-report. no response for 5 days now.

No code changes does not mean that the engine files that download and are in local storage haven’t gotten corrupted and/or some of the engine configuration files. I don’t think that setting deletes Local Storage, though I’m not 100% certain.