About our patches
------------------As with most RTS games, we release patches from time to time. These correct minor bugs and balance issues, but also will occasionally add a new, free, unit type, AI type, or game mechanic. In the future, expansions will add much larger chunks of content that will come at an additional costs, but those are optional and the ongoing releases of free smaller content, mechanics updates, bugfixes, etc, will remain available to all players who have the base game.
To download the latest patch
----------------------------Simply click "Check For Updates" off the main menu in the game, or from the Start Menu folder for AI War. If there are any updates, this will notify you of them. Bear in mind that most patches are cumulative, so if you haven't patched in a while and then check for updates, odds are good that it will only need to download and install the most recent one (it automatically skips patches that it does not need to install).
Special Note For Impulse Users
---------------------------------If you purchased the game through
Impulse, you should follow their procedures for downloading and updating software (this is outlined in their email to you with the license key). The Check For Updates link is disabled in their version of the game, since updates are handled through their platform.
If the patch downloads, but has trouble installing
-----------------------------------------------PROBLEM 1: During the install process, it may give you a window saying that the feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable, and that you should click OK to try again or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package 'AIWarSetup.msi' in the box.We don't distribute the raw msi file, but rather an executable which includes the msi file compressed in it. When you run the installer, it automatically unpacks the msi file into a folder in your application files directory, and normally any updates that need to reference it will look in that folder to find the file. In the case of this problem, that file/folder has been removed from your computer for whatever reason (usually some sort of cleanup process you run).
SOLUTION A: Presuming that you still have your original installation AIWarSetup.exe file, just run that file and it will automatically unpack the MSI again. You can do this while the patch process is still asking you for the msi file. After you start the install, click OK on the patch process window, and the patching should proceed. You can then cancel the install of AIWarSetup.exe.
SOLUTION B: If you don't have your original installation file, you'll probably need to download it again. If the version you download is the same as the one you originally installed, it will launch fine and you will be able to use solution A. If the AIWarSetup.exe that you download gives you an error saying that it is the wrong version when you try to run it, then you will need to first uninstall the old version you have, and install the new version after that. You can uninstall the old version like any other program from Add/Remove programs.
It is very rare that Solution B is needed, and usually patching goes without any hitch at all, but these are the steps to take if something does go amuck.
PROBLEM 2: When starting the patch installation process, it may give you an error that says the game is not installed or the wrong version of the game is installed.SOLUTION A: It seems that this problem is happening for Windows XP users who have a version of Windows Installer less than 4.5 installed. Newer versions of the demo/full installer include WI4.5 as part of the installation process, but if you have an older version then it won't have had it. Here is the link for getting Windows Installer 4.5 if you don't already have it:
http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?FamilyID=5a58b56f-60b6-4412-95b9-54d056d6f9f4&displaylang=en Upgrading is free, and it should only be a 3.2 MB download.
SOLUTION B: If you don't want to try the above approach, or it does not work for you (please let us know if it does not work for you), you can manually install the patch from a link in the most recent release's news announcement (see first reply under each "new release" post in the news forum).
