Was playing fine earlier this evening. Game froze up after my cat walked on the keyboard and opened some random Windows 11 pane. Frustrating, but no big deal. Close dreamseeker, reconnect to the server. Except that didn't happen.

After a few attempts, and getting a connection failed response, I decided to reinstall BYOND. Big mistake.

Now I'm stuck with the dreaded "Loading Game Information" splash that never changes or progresses. Things I've tried:

1) re-pathing the cache folder to a different directory (e.g. D:\BYOND_DATA\)
2) re-naming cfg to cfg.old in the original directory.
3) reinstalling multiple times. wiping all previous data, just in case.
4) installing different versions.
5) rebooting my router, multiple times.
6) factory resetting my router.

None of the above have worked.

I've run out of ideas to solve this, and its giving me a headache because none of it makes any sense.