'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
GTA Online servers have been down for quite some time, affecting PC players all over the world. Fortunately, the servers are live once again.
Rockstar Services had recently stopped allowing players access to Grand Theft Auto Online due to maintenance. Players who were trying to play the game during that period of time got an error message. As there was no official statement by Rockstar Games about it, players were left furious for the time being.
With that being said, let’s learn everything about the incident and which issues it might have addressed.
What exactly happened to GTA Online's servers
All online services in GTA Online for PC players were interrupted and unavailable for a few hours on June 22, 2022. The maintenance was scheduled from 5:00 am to 10:00 am UTC. Although not every player was affected, some were unable to access GTA Online for the time being.
Famous insider @GTAonlineNews from Twitter shared an update which informed about the same. As stated in the tweet, the server maintenance was not expected to take the entire scheduled time and they went live as soon as the work was done.
Fans were not happy about the update as they shared their frustrations as well as theories for its reason over social media.
While there is no official explanation for the need for sudden maintenance, one could assume it to be either regular maintenance or a continuation fix for the recent text message spam.
What is text message spam?
GTA Online's PC players have been getting constant spam messages. It’s not new for them to go through situations like this before, however, this was a very weird one.
They were getting repetitive messages in their Grand Theft Auto Online lobby, as reported by players on Twitter. The constant sound of messages dropping every mini-second with random numbers ruined the experience for anyone.
According to insider Tez2, Rockstar released a tunable update to fix the issue, which was supposed to resolve the issue as well as prevent hackers from interrupting players’ lobbies again.
What players can do if they're still facing the issue
If GTA Online players are becoming a victim of text message spam on PC, they can download the SocialClub Notification Blocker. It is an application that helps block Rockstar Games Social Club overlay notifications and works as a firewall.
Players can install it with the help of the following steps:
- Download the SocialClub Notification Blocker from the GitHub website.
- Once it’s downloaded, run SCBloker.exe as an Administrator.
- Players with Python on their PC can launch it directly via the interpreter. Type python main.py in an elevated command prompt.
- Once installed, the notifications should now be blocked when the software is running as well as the network filter is turned on.
- Use arrow keys to browse the menu afterward.
Players should note that this is not a Rockstar-approved method. They are advised to learn more about the app on their GitHub page before installing it.
To conclude, server maintenance is nothing new when it comes to online gaming, but fans always expect the developers to solve the existing issues in the game. They can now wait for the new weekly update without any interruption in gameplay.
