Update Problem

[Buckeroo]

I just started steam on my new computer and bought all available expansions to AI War. When I started the game I could only fill in the registration numbers for three expansions. The "Ancient Shadow" expansion would not show up, probably due to missing update files.

Now, it says that I have 8 updates and 3 betas pending. Whenever I use the update all button, it shows me the progress of downloading 8 parts, but unfortunately those parts never seem to get installed. Also, when I try to run the auto updater for osx from within the user library, nothing happens.

As of now, I am stuck with game version 5000.

I hope that someone is able to help me here.

[x4000]

Hey there -- this is with the Steam version of AI War?  It's odd that you're that out of date on Steam, it should be handling the updates for you.  I suggest you go in and do a verify steam cache on the game, and that should resolve it.  Cheers!

[Buckeroo]

Thank you for your timely response. I just tried what you suggested, but it didn't work. Yes, I have neglected to play on steam for quite some time. My latest game save dates february 2011.

Any other suggestions?

[x4000]

If you go under the Updates tab, does it say Always Keep this game up to date?

I've just fired up my OSX steam copy to make sure all is well, and it doesn't seem that there is some central problem (I think someone else would have mentioned it, too, if there was).  It sounds like for whatever reason that Steam isn't updating your game.

One thing that might be the problem is that between 5.0 and 6.0 the game moved from the internal Steam2 to the Steam3 platform.  Almost all steam games have made that transition or will do so at some point if they are ever updated again, and that's been a process since last summer or so across the steam store.  Normally when this happens with a game, steam will pop up and tell you that it has to convert the game files from the old format to the new.  I'm betting there's a good chance that's not happening for you here for whatever reason. 

Probably one solution would be to uninstall the game and reinstall it, if making sure that automatic updates are on doesn't work.  You shouldn't have this problem again with the game, as it looks like the steam3 platform is going to be around for a while (it's soooo much better than steam2).

Hope that helps!

[Buckeroo]

Yes, automated updates are on. I just checked.

Anything special I should know about when deleting the game?

[Buckeroo]

It says that my steam client is up to date. That means I already have steam3 platform enabled, right?

[x4000]

When deleting the game, if you want to make sure your settings get retained then hang on to settings.dat and inputbindings.dat in your game's install folder (which you can copy/paste from the bottom of the settings window.  Same with your savegames if you wish to keep those.  Steam shouldn't delete those, but you never know.

In terms of the steam2 versus steam3, that's on a per-game basis and steam only does it when you update them.  If AI War is still at version 5.0, it's not possible that it's on steam3 yet, because 6.0 was the first version on steam3.

[Buckeroo]

Ok Chris, then I just click on "delete local content" and that's it?

[x4000]

Yep!

[Buckeroo]

I just deleted the local content and installed the game again, but I am still stuck with my version 5000. It still says there are 8 updates etc. Maybe Steam didn't really delete the game. May I manually delete it from my library folder?

Also, I still have all Steam games inside of an "Applications" Folder, at user level, where the user library is situated. Are those redundant, or are they shortcuts that steam creates?

[x4000]

Yes, you can delete it from your library folder -- odd that steam did not seem to do so. Normally steam content is located at:

/Users/YourUsername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/

And under there is where all the actual installation files normally are.  I'm not sure how they would be in your Applications folder.  I have had trouble with Steam for OSX not actually deleting local content before, though, so that's probably what happened here. 

If you delete the ai war fleet command folder that goes under /Users/YourUsername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/ that will pretty much handle it.  Though you may also want to delete /Users/YourUsername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/appmanifest_40400.acf just to be on the safe side, too -- 40400 is AI War's appid.

[Buckeroo]

I did just that, and after downloading approx. 824MB or something the game said "play" again. When I pressed the button steam told me that the executable is missing.

I contacted steam support as well and gave them the link to this thread.

Sorry to bother you, but I hope we can sort this out.

[x4000]

Well, it sounds like it actually downloaded the whole thing this time, at least.  It wouldn't have been that much without ancient shadows.  Did you try verifying your steam cache now that it's done it's installation?  Possibly it omitted the executable for... reasons unknown.

[Buckeroo]

Sorry about the wrong info earlier on. Install size is 488MB and it just installs the folders AI War Fleet Command/RuntimeData/Expansions/1,2,3,4

Inside those 4 folders are two folders: Images and Music, together with a file named Version.txt

That is all.

[x4000]

That's... seemingly impossible.  Somehow it installed the expansions but not the base game!?

I've been through all my stuff on my end, which is what took me so long.  Given that it seems to be installing for other people just fine on OSX, and given that all the settings and so forth haven't changed on our end for several months (and I just double-checked them all), I have to presume that this is some sort of really strange error in Steam itself with it not giving this to your account.  Hopefully their support can help.

But!  In the meantime, I have a workaround for you that will let you start playing right away.  If you download this file: http://aiwar.s3.amazonaws.com/AIWarSetup-osx-6000.app.zip

Then you can install that into your Steam folder and it should work just great.  Make sure not to install that to its default directory, though.  You want to install it into /Users/YourUsername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/ai war fleet command/ instead.

Since it installed the expansions okay from the sounds of it, you won't need to use their manual installers.  Sorry for all this craziness, but at least this will sort it out for you!