So I uninstalled, deleted all local content, re-installed and left all the server tweaking stuff alone... (the servertest.ini stuff) I then created a new server within the online section of the game (deleting the old information); I used my local IP (by googling it) rather than the 127.0.0.1 and also left the server password blank. and now I can join again. yay. next is to try and put in place the server changes (I think I need to save over the servertest.ini file to get this to work properly). I'm going in to the PZServerSettings folder and using the bat file to edit, last time I saved the changes as a different file name, this time i'll save over the originals.