Gotta be something really stupid for a veteran as yourself to have this problem, hehe. Something you will be smacking yourself in the head about when you figure it out . Are you sure you got the patch U working right? It says 0.5U on your startup screen? Didn't accidentally hit S1 servers did you?
gimme some credit, i have unlocked(first thing i did) it is the right version, im not hiding anything(private, public etc) and ive tried with demo, s1 and s2 servers.
Perhaps you're still banned? I pressume there was a reason you managed to do cold turkey ! lol...
More constructively, It does sound like a patch problem. Have you tried downloading to a fresh directory or did you apply the patch to an old install? It might be worth starting afresh.
yea, i deleted it all and downloaded a new version(made sure i kept the skins and setup folders...im not that stupid) and still nothing, so im thinking its something my end, as i have recently gotten a new pc.
and no im not banned...cheeky. i just dont play anymore as i never really have the time.
Assuming your running XP, try shutting down the default firewall & run Zonealarm free or something similar, I have found that the windoze firewall can cause some issues with some programs.
Start/control panel/windows firewall/ off !!