[Solved] how install 2.3?

[vonduus]

I have version 2.0 of the game, and I want to upgrade to 2.9, just to see, before I buy the expansion. But when I click the update button, the updater will  not launch (I am connected via Steam). I believe updates are handled automatically from version 2.3  and higher, my problem is to get my Steam version updated to 2.3. I got my cd-key ready, but noone never ever asked for it yet.

So I have downloaded version 2.3 of the game. Now what do I do with this file? It is not an installer. Am I supposed to extract the files to my Steamapps folder, overwriting the original files in the process? Any information regarding this will be appreciated.

[Fiskbit]

Hye, vonduus. To be clear, version 2.9 is a prerelease version between the current official release (2.0) and the upcoming 3.0 release, which is coming out later today, in fact. 3.0 will be available on Steam via its usual update system. In versions prior to 2.3, only official releases can be gotten through the in-game updater, and on Steam, the updater is actually disabled because it's all done by Steam rather than the game.

If you'd like to wait for 3.0 to try out the expansion, that'll be up today and you'll be able to get it through Steam without bothering with this. If you want to try out 2.9, though, you need to extract the 2.3 zip file into your AI War directory. You can find the location of that directory in the settings menu in-game. It's likely to be something similar to this: "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\ai war fleet command\". Once that's working, you should be able to launch the game and use the in-game updater to update to 2.9.

If you need more help, please ask!

[vonduus]

Thanks a lot, Fiskbit, for your quick answer. So today is the big day - great.

Once again: Thank you Arcen and associates and fans, for a great game.

[vonduus]

This is what I did:

(1) I went to Steamapps, took a copy of the AI War directory and pasted it on my desktop. (2) Then I unzipped the version 2.3 patch into this newly created directory, overwriting a lot of files in the proces. (3) Then I launched the game and pushed the update button on the Main Screen. The game automatically downloaded the 2.9 patch and restarted as ZR, trial version.

So now I have two versions: My official unlocked Steam version 2.0 (in a few hours to be 3.0), I can hook up with my friends and expect to play without problems, everything is playtested and official. And I have a locked version 2.9, soon to be 3.0, then 3.01 etc., where I can try out all the new gear as it gets invented. (Locked for now, as soon as I can get my hands on a VISA card I intend to unlock it). This will be my working or experimental version of the game, where I can test all the new toys and rule changes.

For serious multiplayer campaigning I still have my official version, that sticks to certain rules of a certain date/version.

This configuration seems so far to work allright on my computer. I haven't tried multiplayer yet, though. I hope I am not causing the game to crash on me or something by these actions? I am not totally computer illiterate, but I sure have a lot of self-inflicted ctd's on my conscience. 

Btw, AI War has never made a ctd on me so far. +10 rep

[Fiskbit]

Yes, that should work fine. AI War is able to be 'installed' in multiple places at once. As far as I know, it doesn't put anything specific to it outside of its directory, so as long as you have all the prereqs, you can put a copy of the whole folder anywhere and it should be okay.

I have a setup similar to yours: I keep the latest official version on Steam, while I do prereleases elsewhere. This makes interactions with other players easy, since I can expect my Steam copy to be the same as most normal users'.

I'm glad you haven't had any sort of crash so far. I hope that remains true! I've had many crashes, myself, but I also deliberately look for things that will crash the game.

Anyway, glad to hear you got it set up alright!

[Oewyn]

So now I have two versions: My official unlocked Steam version 2.0 (in a few hours to be 3.0), I can hook up with my friends and expect to play without problems, everything is playtested and official. And I have a locked version 2.9, soon to be 3.0, then 3.01 etc., where I can try out all the new gear as it gets invented. (Locked for now, as soon as I can get my hands on a VISA card I intend to unlock it). This will be my working or experimental version of the game, where I can test all the new toys and rule changes.

I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that Chris' generous license agreement would permit you to use the same key to unlock both copies provided they are on the same machine.  Unless you meant unlocking the expansion, which of course you would need to purchase(if you haven't already)...

[Fiskbit]

I interpreted that as unlocking the expansion, not the main game. In the event that it wasn't, though, please don't feel obligated to purchase a second copy of the game just to install it elsewhere. We don't want more money from people just so they can put this on a system more than once or on a different system. Install it wherever you like; we trust people to be responsible.

vonduus, if you don't have the expansion, you can disable it and play version 2.900 using just the base game (unlocked, if you've entered your license key) by going into the settings menu and disabling it in the expansion tab. Even without the expansion, it has a lot of bugfixes and new content compared to 2.0.

Enjoy!

[vonduus]

I was talking about the expansion, I haven't preordered, I can't even beat the basic game on AI level 6.

One of my friends actually payed twice. He bought a copy on a brand new Steam account, but forgot the password, and ended up buying another copy at GamersGate. But we are happy to spend our money on quality products, and we don't want our money back. It is a pleasure to pay a modest fee for a good game.

The only issue I have experienced is a noticable command lag at the end of a very long campaign (40+ hours), especially attack-move, FRD and group move. But to me, the lesson of this rather long game was that if you haven't won when you are 40 hours in, you probably never will, so it is not really an issue.