Tutorial: Connection

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Currently, the game is only available to people connecting with Japanese IP addresses. Thus, this page guides on how to bypass this restriction.

There are two options to connect to the game:

Note that for creating a new game account, it is necessary to use a Japanese VPN, preferably with all other methods disabled.

Non-VPN methods summarized
Method Cookie Fix Gadget Fix Custom Cache
Browser/Viewer Extension/Plugin External App
GotoBrowser (Android) - - Yes Yes No
Poi (Browser) - Yes Yes[1] Yes[2]
- KCCacheProxy Yes Yes Yes
Chrome KC3Kai (+ SwitchyOmega) KCCacheProxy Yes Yes Yes
DMM (+ KC3Kai) - Yes Yes[3] No
ElectronicObserver - - Yes Yes No
- KCCacheProxy Yes Yes Yes
Other browsers Redirector - No[4] Yes[3] No
Other browsers and viewers
with proxy settings
- KCCacheProxy No[4] Yes Yes
  1. Inconvenient updating, need browser cache clearing, or manual local cache updating with corresponding manual reloading (in Browser plugin), or manual main.js reloading.
  2. Updating problems.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Inconvenient updating, need cache clearing, or manual main.js reloading, or better updating.

Bypassing Blocks

KanColle Gadget Server Block

Since February 26, 2020, KanColle login (or gadget) server is blocking all non-Japanese IP addresses directly; thus, extra steps are required to load the game:

  • On Android GotoBrowser can be used: a substitute login server will be used if the "alter gadget URL" option is enabled in settings. The substitute server will serve the login assets, allowing a user to log in without needing to access the actual login server. Additional connection options can be used as well. Clearing cache may be required.
  • Poi (v10.6.0 or later) can use a local cache folder, allowing to serve the login assets from a local folder, again, bypassing the need to connect to the real login server. The "3rd party cache" folder can be found in common settings (%appdata%/poi/MyCache be default on Windows), the path to login assets should be 3rd party cache folder/KanColle/gadget_html5 (%appdata%/poi/MyCache/KanColle/gadget_html5 for Windows; technically, only gadget_html5 folder is required to log in). Clearing cache in common settings and restarting the viewer may be required.
  • Options for Chrome/KC3Kai:
  • KCCacheProxy can be used with browsers and viewers that support proxy connections. It serves assets from a local cache and so should also speed up asset loading.

General DMM Cookie-based Block

To ensure that region-restricted pages are accessed only from Japan DMM is using an IP check to set a region flag in its cookies every time a page is loaded. Then the flag is used to check if a region-restricted page can be accessed. It is possible to bypass this restriction by changing the flag right before loading each page or by setting a path-overriding cookie.

The following tools automatically override the necessary cookies when needed:

  • Poi, the cookie setting should be enabled.
  • If you want to browse other DMM games, and not just play KanColle, on Chrome you can use one of the following extensions:

To override the cookies manually:

  • Log into dmm.com if not logged in already, choose an interface language if asked. Make sure the page is fully loaded once you logged in.
  • Open the developer tools.
  • Copy-paste the following code into the console:
expires=new Date(+new Date()+31536e6).toUTCString()
document.cookie=`ckcy=1;expires=${expires};path=/netgame;domain=.dmm.com`

VPN or Proxy

Different VPN and proxy server providers can be used, as long as they have Japanese locations. Refer to their documentation on how to use them.

Note that VPN/Proxy is only required during login (the real login server will be accessed via a Japanese IP address) and can be disabled afterward (game servers do not require a Japanese IP).

One free option is VPN Gate, an "Academic Experiment Project" by the University of Tsukuba. The site can also be used to check your apparent IP address and location. It is NOT recommended to be used when you are handling sensitive data such as when entering your card details.

Windows

Mac/Linux

  • Simply import an OpenVPN config file of a Japanese server in your network manager.
  • Alternatively, there is L2TP/IPsec interface, which is usually pre-installed, so it is possible to set it up directly without installing any clients.

Other free options include: