diff --git a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
index 44359db..cbd4b27 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
@@ -1066,7 +1066,21 @@ public sealed class GameWindow : IDisposable
 
         try
         {
-            var endpoint = new System.Net.IPEndPoint(System.Net.IPAddress.Parse(host), int.Parse(portStr));
+            // Resolve DNS names (e.g. play.coldeve.ac) as well as literal
+            // IP addresses. `IPAddress.Parse` throws on hostnames; fall
+            // back to `Dns.GetHostAddresses` and prefer IPv4 (ACE + retail
+            // use IPv4 UDP exclusively).
+            System.Net.IPAddress ip;
+            if (!System.Net.IPAddress.TryParse(host, out ip!))
+            {
+                var addrs = System.Net.Dns.GetHostAddresses(host);
+                ip = System.Array.Find(addrs,
+                        a => a.AddressFamily == System.Net.Sockets.AddressFamily.InterNetwork)
+                    ?? (addrs.Length > 0 ? addrs[0] : throw new System.Exception(
+                        $"DNS resolved no addresses for '{host}'"));
+                Console.WriteLine($"live: resolved {host} → {ip}");
+            }
+            var endpoint = new System.Net.IPEndPoint(ip, int.Parse(portStr));
             Console.WriteLine($"live: connecting to {endpoint} as {user}");
             _liveSession = new AcDream.Core.Net.WorldSession(endpoint);
             _liveSession.EntitySpawned += OnLiveEntitySpawned;