I have 3 versions of TF installed; 1.01, 1.1b3 and 1.1b4 (lol, developer's version).
The first couldn't find the server, the second gave the error I described earlier and the third crashed the game completely. Maybe I need to open my router up or something. We'll see...
Haha, yes, I know what you mean. I have about 5 now.
Anyway, your problem may be caused by your beta3 (with the patch) being not the "clean install". Maybe you added some stuff to basetf later, like some prog updates or something else. It's normal for developers to do so.
You can always try to download beta3 and its patch from our sourceforge site and unzip it into an empty directory. Then you should be able to join, as other peolpe have no problems.
I missed it too, but I did take a gander at who was in there once, I meant to again in 10 minutes or so. Keep in mind, guys, my mom works full time now, I don't usually get back for an hour and a half after I did before.
Shame I couldn't be there. But oh well, I'll try to be in on Hermabob's soon or the next time this is up, I'll try to be there as much as possible. Having internet problems lately, though, so I wasn't able to check the boards until now.