(mod edit: Problems downloading LotS)

[mikey1871]

yeah, i bought the new LotS game from gamersgate. ran it and (I cant actually believe this) the fracking exe installed the new expansion in a totally different and incompatible place on my computer!!!!

WTF??? I love your game and the first 2 expansions because you had the guts and brains to get back to basics and make a fantastic game without all the digital security crap.

I've also went to download the demo version or LotS and that didn't go where it show have.

HOW the hell did you manage to make a great expansion but include a super crappy installer that works as well as the idiot sara palin???

WHY does your new exe want to put the expansion in "C:\Program Files|AIWar"? the basic game and the first 2 expansion are in "C:\Program Files\Arcen Games,LLC\AI War"  WTF???

Next what the hell is the new (no real usefullness file) "Runtime Data" file for? there is NO file like that in the basic game????again WTF?

YOU DO NOT change the parameters for where new files go on a whim!!!!!
and even if i try to place the stuff within this idiotic "runtime Data" folder, the new expansion still never shows up in the game. the expansion page still only tells me that i only have the first 2 expansions only installed and i've tried this 4 separate times.

I also have taken the time to re-download a supposed clean copy from gamersgate each time to no avail.

Lastly once this crap has run it's course i get the following stupid error message:
There has been an error.
Unknown error while running C:\Program Files\AIWar/AIWar.exe
The application will exit now.

That is where your crap is installing itself.... NOT where the game is nor ever when i tell it where to install the expansion.

even if i take the "3" file and cut and paste it into the correct game files for the expansions. The game still has no effing clue that there is a third expansion.

I really am sorry for the nasty language, but i have zero tolerance for this kind of really shoddy, underhanded crappy stuff!!

and if you want the proof of my purchasing the third expansion from gamers gate. email me and i will let you know what my serial key is for AIwar light of the spire (PC).

thanks, very angry me 

[keith.lamothe]

Please calm down, I will try to help you if I can, but I can't help a shouting person


Which version of the base game are you running?

In version 3.7 (the first official version after that was 4.0, the current official version is 5.0) the game was ported from our custom .NET/SlimDX engine to a new engine built on top of Unity3D (this made a lot of cool stuff possible).  Lots of stuff changed then, like the introduction of RuntimeData, etc.

We do apologize for that inconvenience, but honestly it seems very small in comparison with the gains from the new engine.  You are, in fact, the first to complain about that particular aspect in the 3-4 months (iirc) since that change.

[keith.lamothe]

Sorry, forgot to clarify: LotS is for version 5.0+ of the game, which you can download from any of the mirrors thus listed here:

http://arcengames.com/w/index.php/aiwar-downloads


If you had version 3.7+ I think you could handle it though the ingame updater, but it sounds like you have an older version, so it's a new installation due to the engine-port I mentioned before.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, we really would have avoided the "need to install again" part but there really wasn't anything we could do.  Folks didn't seem to mind much.

[Mánagarmr]

*restrains himself from saying anything inappropriate*

It really does seem like you have the pre-unity version and are trying to install LotS on top of that. That really won't work well. Instead, do as Keith said and completely uninstall AI-War and install the new Unity (5.000) version from the website. There are still the same keys and all, so it shouldn't give you any issues.

[TechSY730]

This is sort of off topic, but I think that the censored title of this thread is funnier than the original.

[mikey1871]

yeah my version is 3.1.8.9 the game never said i had anything wrong, but thanks so much for telling me so quickly how to fix the problem.

Now I bought the basic game from GamersGate. They might also have a bad set of downloads that you might want to check theirs out.

I will definitely follow the new instructions and hopefully i can get back to happily playing one of my favorite games!

[keith.lamothe]

yeah my version is 3.1.8.9 the game never said i had anything wrong, but thanks so much for telling me so quickly how to fix the problem.

Yea, we had wanted to be able to get the 3.189 game to tell people about the 3.7 version... but that proved more than a bit tricky.  I wonder how many other folks are still on 3.189/3.120 and are wondering why there aren't any more updates

Now I bought the basic game from GamersGate. They might also have a bad set of downloads that you might want to check theirs out.

I'm pretty certain that anyone downloading AI War from them now gets 5.0.

Yea, went there and pulled up the store page for the game:
http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-AIWARFC/ai-war-fleet-command-50-bundle

Looks like 5.0 to me.

I think Direct2Drive still has some old version, but other than that our distributors tend to keep up

I will definitely follow the new instructions and hopefully i can get back to happily playing one of my favorite games!

I hope it works out, let us know if not

And, uh, if you wouldn't mind cleaning up your original post now that the venting is over, that would be a kindness to the eyes of anyone stumbling into this thread

[mikey1871]

Thank you very much Keith and everyone who gave me the good replies. I downloaded the correct files from Arcen's download sites and they all worked flawlessly.

PLEASE please please tell the people at GamersGate to get their act together and upload the correct basic and expansion game files and let everyone who already has paid for the game that things have changed... just in case there are others out there who only had version 3.1.8.9.

I'm sorry, but sometimes i don't go onto original sites cause there are lots of them and unfortunately most are not as up to date and monitored as well as Arcen's is.

And if it's wrong of me to think that GamersGate who sells your games and the expansions should be informing us of pertinent info, and i definitely think this was pertinent, then please tell me.

Again, thanks very much for the super way better game  

mikey   

[keith.lamothe]

And if it's wrong of me to think that GamersGate who sells your games and the expansions should be informing us of pertinent info, and i definitely think this was pertinent, then please tell me.

Well, since you asked: if a website starts sending emails to folks months (or years) after they bought something, a lot of those folks generally object to the "spam".  If I recall correctly it's actually illegal in the US to send unsolicited bulk email unless the sender has had a business relationship (i.e. an order or support request or something like that, in this case) with the recipients in the last 6 months.  I think the law is actually a lot softer than that (particularly in practice) but it does indicate the general desire of folks to not get email they didn't ask for   If GG had some sort of "opt-in" auto-notify when new versions came out, that would be something worthwhile.

I think Steam would automatically have taken care of it for you through their auto-updating thing, but that's not sending you an email, that's just doing it


Arcen could theoretically try to notify existing bought-directly-from-us customers (or at least existing forum members, as in your case) of a big version change like that.  Honestly we didn't even think to do so   But sending email to tons and tons of folks who happened to have some past interactions with us... I would feel like I was intruding.  I don't like spam, myself.

It's a tradeoff, really.

[Echo35]

I think Steam would automatically have taken care of it for you through their auto-updating thing, but that's not sending you an email, that's just doing it

I don't remember the exact details, but I do recall when the 4.0 stuff came out, my Steam install was all kinds of crazy, full of junk folders, etc. so I ended up just doing a completely clean install of the game.

[Junuxx]

I was also having issues trying to install LotS on a 3.1.8.9 (didn't play AI War for some time). Had to search around quite a bit until I found this.

Yea, we had wanted to be able to get the 3.189 game to tell people about the 3.7 version... but that proved more than a bit tricky.  I wonder how many other folks are still on 3.189/3.120 and are wondering why there aren't any more updates

If you can't get that message in 3.1.8.9, maybe you should at least put a warning to that effect in the LotS installer?

[Mánagarmr]

Could be an idea. The easiest solution right now is to uninstall and just install a fresh if you come from anything 3.x

[MaxAstro]

Reminds me of the "fun" time I had trying to install Ancient Shadows.

My AI War install is through Steam, but the Ancient Shadows installer (at least the one I used) doesn't know that, so it installed everything to C:\games\AIWar or something like that.  And then I wondered why none of the Ancient Shadows content was available...  xD

Got it figured out eventually, but I just thought I'd mention that it's a thing that could happen.

[Wingflier]

*restrains himself from saying anything inappropriate*

I won't.

You're a moron.

[keith.lamothe]

I think that's a bit of a late hit